Say My Name ( sokeefe )
by flustered dreams
Summary: She looked back at him and said the two words that tipped his world sideways. "I'm pregnant."
1. Chapter 1

**a/n: this was originally a one-shot i wrote, but now i have decided to make it into a full fanfic!**

 **hope you enjoy all the fluff this story is going to have. it's pretty much just fluff, with a bit of drama sprinkled in. :)**

* * *

"Babe, wake up."

Keefe stirred in the huge bed, but didn't really obey. He was out cold, drooling on his pillow.

Sophie rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips twitched. "Keefe, c'mon."

He rolled over, groaning, until he faced her. But his eyes were still drooping shut. "Quiet. . ." he moaned.

"No, you need to get up," she answered, pushing his shoulder, trying to get him awake.

"Shhhhh," he replied sleepily. Sophie had to giggle at that. When Keefe got tired, he tended to let his guard down and mutter incoherent nonsense. She couldn't lie—it was always adorable. "Be a woman and get up," she teased.

"I'll be a woman and s-sleep, how 'bout that. . ?"

Sophie shook her head, a bit of her temper starting to flare. He was cute, but he really _did_ need to get up. She was getting the results back from Elwin today and she knew that any minute they might come in. "I _will_ push you out of bed."

Keefe smiled sleepily, his eyes still unopened. "I'd like to see you try. But enough, ugh, nonsense. . . ." He moaned, shifting a little in bed. The covers came down a little off his back from the movement, revealing that his torso was bare. His eyes fluttered open and he stared back at her with the ice blue gaze. "Gimme' kiss, Foster."

She rolled her eyes, but bent over and placed a quick peck to his waiting lips. At least, it would have been a quick peck if he hadn't snagged her to him with a sneaky arm around her waist.

Next he ran a hand through her hair, messing it up further. "You sure have some bedhead, hun," he mumbled into her mouth.

She poked him in the stomach and he chuckled, but let her go from his embrace. She straightened her shirt. "Finally," she said, "free from captivity."

"Captivity? I'm your husband! I was holding you with my arm!" He laughed. "You little stinker."

" _You_ little stinker. You're like a hibernating bugbear."

He rubbed his drowsy eyes, yawning. "What do you need me up for?" he asked.

"It's called you can't sleep in all day."

"But—"

"I'm going to take a shower," she snapped, arms crossed as she sprung from the bed.

"Wait!" Her husband yelled, bewildered. He sprung from the bed, too, when she didn't stop and chased her out the door into the hall. He grabbed her arm and swung her around. "I know you're Miss Mood Swings, but you don't have to act like you're pregnant!" he teased. He frowned when she didn't laugh—or even smile—but stiffened. "What did I do? What's wrong?"

She bit her lip. "Do you have any spare change?"

He was taken back a step. Her stalling was legendary, but this was just completely odd. "W-What? Foster. . ."

"Spare. Change," she repeated.

He was frozen in the spot, staring at her slack-jawed, his face the definition of confusion. She shook her blonde head. "Just. . . Forget it. I'll find some on my own."

She twisted out of his grasp and walked off in the direction of the huge master bath. Part of him wanted to smile—it was so cute how much she loved the waterfall shower—but he just couldn't bring himself to.

Something was _off_ about his wife.

He decided to confront her about it when she got out of the shower, so he walked to the kitchen, intent on making breakfast. He tried to tell himself he was doing this because he needed to be a nice, doting husband for once, but it was probably because he was thinking if he sucked up to her, she'd eventually tell him what was going on.

He got the coffee pot going while the cinnamon raisin toast was going on the toaster. He grabbed the lives of toast once they popped and slathered them with butter, plopping them on a plate. He began to prepare and heat up a bowl of oatmeal, searching around the fridge for some berries to go with it. Once he found them, the oatmeal was done, so he grabbed a few selective ones and popped them into the bowl. He didn't know if it actually tasted good, but he'd seen it on TV, so he figured he'd give it a try. As soon as the coffee finished brewing, he poured out a mug, then added and plopped a silver spoon into the oatmeal bowl.

He'd heard the shower go off a couple minutes ago, so he grabbed a plate and put the toast on it, along with the cup of coffee. In the other hand he held the warm white bowl as he headed for the bathroom.

He paused in the doorway when he found Sophie on the bed wrapped in a fluffy white towel, wringing out her wet, shiny hair. Next she grabbed a bottle of lotion and started running it down her legs.

Not wanting to be labeled as a pervert if she caught him, he cleared his throat. She looked up at him with her fawn eyes and cocked her head slightly to the side. "Did you. . . Make me breakfast?"

He couldn't get his mouth to form words, so he nodded mutely.

She smiled the kind of smile that made his insides warm and filled with fuzzy feels as she reached out for the plate and bowl. Keefe came forward and handed her the bowl first so then he could grab the coffee as she grabbed the plate.

"Should I. . . Uh. . . Put this on the dresser?" he asked.

She cringed at the mug. "Um. . . No thanks, babe. No coffee today."

"Wait—what? Excuse me? No coffee? You always have coffee."

She flushed pink as she shrugged. "Sorry. . . You can have it?"

He shook his head, but not because he didn't want the coffee. He was _so_ having the coffee.

He shook his head because this was becoming way too confusing. "Alright, Foster, please just tell me what's going o—"

"Ooh!" she exclaimed, popping up off the bed. She set the bowl and plate down on the dresser, walking to a random spot in the room where she bent over and picked up a coin the size of a quarter.

Keefe rose a brow as she saddled over to her side of the bed and popped it into a pink piggy bank he hadn't noticed. He frowned. "What are you saving up for?"

She looked at him, half-smiling. "A lot of things. Well, one thing in general, but that one thing in general is going to require. . . a _lot_ of things."

She suddenly frowned as she looked at him. Her eyes clouded over with the look of sadness. He was so confused.

"Are you on your. . . . Uh, monthly or something?" he asked cringing at the awkward twist he had added to it. Coming from his mouth it just sounded weird.

Her face scrunched in pain or digsut. "No," she mumbled.

He rose a brow as her emotions rippled through the air, flipping from slight anger to some sort of sadness. "Foster, hey. . ."

She must've known he had felt it, because her lip started to quiver until she suddenly burst out in tears, letting it all out without so much as a warning.

Keefe actually jumped a little, set the coffee down on the floor and ran to her. "Whoa, babe, whoa! What's wrong? Hey, what's wrong? Shhh. I-It's alright. I didn't mean to—"

"You're gonna hate me! " she blubbered.

He froze. "What? Sophie, that's insane—"

"You don't even want one!" she cried.

"Want what, honey?" he cooed, rubbing her back as she cried.

"You don't want one because you're afraid you're gonna end up like you're dad, but I wanted one and now I'm terrible because I have one and now you're gonna hate—"

"Hold up, _what_?" he asked, his brain screeching to halt as he stared at her.

Truth be told, while Sophie had been in the bedroom for those couple of minutes, Elwin had called to either confirm or deny the news.

She stared at him, lip quivering, eyes watering. She opened her mouth several times to say something, but each time words failed. Finally, she managed to squeak, "You don't want a baby."

He stood stunned into silence as she wiped her eyes.

She pointed to the piggy bank. "I'm saving up for a baby."

She looked back at him and said the two words that tipped his world sideways. "I'm pregnant."


	2. Chapter 2

Keefe blinked, watching Sophie with unmoving ice blue eyes. His gaze stayed in her, watching as she chewed on her lower lip.

"Keefe?" she whispered, pulling the white, fluffy towel tighter around her petite body. Well, petite for now - farther into her pregnancy terms, she'd have a swollen abdomen and would probably grow a few inches. Not that he minded her size, not at all, but what was bothering him was. . .

 _Pregnancy. Sophie was really_ pregnant.

He wanted to curse at himself for his stupidity. He hadn't wanted a baby at all and Sophie was right.

 _This is what happens when you have unprotected sex, Keefe_.

He ran a hand down his face, exhaling long and slow to calm his spiked nerves. "You're just joking with me, right?" he asked, taking his hand off hide face. "Fitz set you up to this or something to scare me."

Sophie gave an apologetic, half -cringe smile. It was adorable and dorky, but Keefe's stomach still felt sour as she shook her blonde head. "No," she answered softly. "That's why I had that private little house call with Elwin yesterday, at Havenfield. You know, the one you were all worried about?"

He let out another long breath. "Oh. So. . . Do Grady and Edaline know?"

Grady had never been too keen on Keefe, but he didn't _hate_ him. Keefe knew Grady had only been worried about Sophie's protection, and if Keefe was a bad influence on her or would break her heart. But. . . Somehow having to tell Grady that Sophie was pregnant still made him a little nervous.

Much to his relief, she shook her head again, arms crossed over her middle. "Only you and Elwin know."

 _For now,_ Keefe thought.

Oh, _why_ did Foster have to be pregnant? It wasn't like he blamed her for it, but. . . A _baby_. . . Oh my gosh, they were having a _baby_.

He just couldn't get his head wrapped around the absurd, foreign sentence. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, looking at his wife. "I. . . Have to go."

He moved past her towards the door to the hallway, glancing back to find Sophie frowning and watching him leave. The wave of choking sadness that rushed over his body, radiating from his wive's, made his eyes mist over with tears, but he ignored them and hurried out of the house.

 _Air_. All he needed was some air.

He got outside of their beautiful estate and leaned over, hands on his knees as he exhaled and inhaled large breaths, taking his time to slow his breathing and quick heart rate.

It wasn't that he didn't want a baby –well, he didn't, but not because he didn't like kids. It would actually be really fun to have a few mini Fosters running around the house. Keefe was just scared. And nervous.

Because if he got a mini troop of Fosters like he wanted with his wife, he'd have to be a dad. He was so nervous that he'd mess up and ruin the kids' lives like his own father had. Cassius hasn't been fully aware of how verbally abusive he had been, so what if Keefe fell into the same trap accidentally? How could he live with himself of he hurt some kids like that? His _own_ kids?

And what if he then accidentally started yelling at Foster like that?

He shuddered just thinking about the way his father had tried to be so controlling.

He could not have this baby with Foster—not at all.

His stomach clenched as he replayed Sophie's hurt she had hurled at him as he'd left the house only a minute ago. He didn't want to hurt Sophie, but he was seriously freaked. He didn't want to deny Foster what she wanted.

He knew somewhere in her she would be the world's greatest mom and that he would be so proud to watch his wife grow a little girl or boy into a man of woman, just as great as her. But. . .

He blew out a full, long breath, staring up at the sky. What was he going to do?

It wasn't like Sophie could just get rid of the baby—maybe put it up for adoption, but. . .

What was he saying? How would he ever convince Sophie to do that?

He eventually snapped out of his daydreams, realizing he had been outside for a few minutes. He was surprised that his wife hadn't yet stormed outside to check up on him, but at the same time, he knew she was respecting his space and boundaries.

He kicked the ground with the tip of his shoe as he made his way towards the door, walking back inside. He didn't see it hear Sophie right away, but he heard some sort of muffled sound.

He took off his shoes and followed it into their living rook, finding Sophie sitting on the couch in a bathrobe. She was hugging a pillow to her chest while watching Spongebob. Keefe had come to learn that she always watched the show whenever she was down.

He'd really messed up.

She turned her eyes back to look at him, a few feet away from the back of the couch. "Hey," she whispered.

Pain erupted in his chest at the intensity of her sad emotions. He spurred up some courage and walked around the couch to the coffee table, grabbing the remote and switching the TV off. Sophie started to protest, but he cut her off by getting down on a knee in front of her. He took her hands in his, intertwining their fingers.

He kissed her knuckles and some of her fingertips before nuzzling his face into her hand. "You know I don't hate you, Foster, right?" he whispered . "And I promise I'm not angry at you. This isn't your fault –it isn't anyone's fault. It isn't _bad_ , I just. . ."

She bit her bottom lip and held back a few tears, taking a hand away from him and holding onto the pillow still against her chest. But she kept the one hand that he rested his cheek lovingly on. "I'm keeping them," she answered. "Whether you want me to or not. And you don't. . . You don't have to help me with the baby if you don't want to. I can keep them with Grady and Edaline most of the time, or something."

He frowned, his heart feeling prickled by slight sadness. "You think I'm gonna let you raise a baby in your own?"

"I just said I'll have Mom and Dad," Sophie mumbled, avoiding eye contact. A traitorous tear rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away with her free hand.

She smushed a bit of her face into the pillow, still not looking at Keefe.

He exhaled lightly. "Foster. . . That's not what's happening here, okay? I'm going to help you with the baby, alright? We're going to keep them and teach them all we know about how to avoid almost dying, and Healing Center visits, and window sleepovers."

That earned him a smile. She sniffled and peeked back over at her husband. "But you don't really want to, Keefe. You're trying to force yourself to do this. Don't do that for me." A little hiccup escaped her lips, making Keefe realize she was holding back from crying.

"Sophie," he said, placing both hands on each side of her arms. He caressed light circles to her skin, leaning up and pressing his forehead against hers. She sniffled and turned her head, facing him completely. Their noses bumped and Sophie could feel his warm breath on her cheeks and lips.

"I'm helping you. I'm raising this kid with you. I'm not just doing this for you–I'm going to do it for us. The only reason I didn't want a baby is because. . . All I want is to be a good father, Sophie. But what if that _doesn't_ happen? I'm just scared I'm going to screw the kid's life up is all."

 _Like father, like son_ , he chanted in his head.

He took a hand and placed it on her abdomen lightly. There was barely any baby bump, but there was a firm sort of plumpness that was beginning to form. He managed a sniffle himself.

Sophie grabbed his wrist lovingly, looking him straight in his eyes. She put her other hand behind his neck, making sure their foreheads stayed touching. The pillow was still in between the two, but almost completely forgotten, since it didn't get in the way of their touches of affection or gazes of adoration.

Sophie's lip quivered as she stared at the dark ring of blue around his pupil. "You're going to be a _wonderful_ father. I promise."

Somehow, he knew she meant every word.


	3. Chapter 3

Sophie sniffled as they continued to stare at each other in silence, foreheads pressed together. Keefe's lips twitched upward with a smile and took her hand off from behind his neck, leaning back and taking contact off of their foreheads. He held her hand and kissed it again, looking silently in adoration at his wife.i

 _His strong, genius, beautiful wife_.

"Well, thanks for making me all misty-eyed, Foster," he laughed, wiping his eye. Sophie giggled, her lip still quivering lightly. She rolled up her own sleeve and dabbed at her eyes.

Keefe let go of her hand suddenly, standing and moving next to her, sitting down on the couch. Sophie nuzzled up against his side the moment he had contact with the couch and he smiled lovingly at her as she half-cuddled him with one arm, and still hugged the decorative pillow with her other.

He put an arm around her shoulder as she laid her head on his chest, listening to his steady breathing and heartbeat.

He began lightly playing with her hair, and said, "So, that's what the house call was? At Havenfield?"

Sophie nodded against his chest. "I couldn't have it here because otherwise you'd find out. And I couldn't tell you that I was going to Elwin's or something, because that would have made you worried and you'd pester me until I told you. So, I went to Havenfield. I played it off like a nice little visit, and then when the visiting was over, Mom and Dad went outside to work again. They probably thought I left, and I don't think they noticed.

"Of course, Elwin hailed you. I don't think he knew that I hadn't told you of my. . . Suspicion, yet and that I wanted to keep it a secret, though, so it's not like I blame him. Anyway, I caught him out of pure luck and explained that I wasn't saying anything to you unless it my hypothesis turned out to be positive, so he played it off."

Keefe grinned and ruffled her hair. "Look at you, deceiving me and also using fancy words."

"' Hypothesis', is not a fancy word, " she argued.

He loved arguing with her in a playful way, but decided not to get sidetracked as she shifted and turned her head to face him. Sure, it was extremely fun to tease her, but he knew now was not the most appropriate time.

"Well, how did you suddenly come across this. . . Feeling that you were pregnant?" Keefe asked, actually a little more curious than he wanted to admit.

Sophie hummed lightly in thought, then answered, "I guess the only way I can really describe it is. . . Instinct. It sounds awfully weird, but it's the most accurate description I can offer. Kind of like how Silveny knew she was pregnant—I just. . . Felt it." She grinned. "And, you know, I had been vomiting for a week, so. . ."

Keefe chuckled, wrapping his arms around her and suddenly pulling her onto his lap without warning. She didn't seem to mind, and she actually turned halfway around so that she was facing him. Her legs were curled to a kneeing position, one on each side of his own lap. She laid her head on his chest again and he sat his chin on top of her blonde head, rubbing light circles on her back.

"What are you thinking?" he whispered after they sat in silence for a few minutes. He continued to rub her back and the happy, loving waves of emotions that were flitting from her body made him more joyous than he could explain.

"Mm," she mumbled, pondering her answer. "About what?"

He kissed her head lightly, inhaling the scent of the perfume in her hair. "Nothing in specific."

The warmth of her body made his heart flip in ways he hadn't thought possible, and he was a little glad she couldn't feel his emotions. There wasn't a way to explain how happy he made her feel. It was almost embarrassing how light and bubbly he felt, cuddling his wife close.

He could feel her hot breath through the material of his shirt, and he watched her breaths make her back rise and fall.

"I'm. . . Worried," she answered suddenly, after the spell of silence. The honesty in her voice made his lips frown.

"What for?" he asked softly.

She shifted her head from his chest to near his shoulder, staring up at him with her large, fawn eyes. She placed a hand on his chest and he took it, his concern lightly rising. "I don't know what my genes are gonna do to the baby," she whispered, growing a little uncomfortable with having to admit it. "What if. . . I don't know. What if something happens? There's so many things that could go wrong. And. . . Keefe, brown eyes are the dominant gene over blue. That means that kid has a higher chance that. . ."

She wouldn't look him in the eyes anymore, and he could feel the hot, shameful embarrassment radiating off of her body.

"Hey," he whispered, trying to get her attention. He wrapped his arms tighter around her. "You and I both know that isn't bad."

"It's bad to everyone else," she retorted miserably.

"That's not true," he replied. "C'mon—I think it would be way better if the kid _does_ have brown eyes."

"And why do you think that?"

"We could get it spreading around," he teased, poking her in the stomach. She squirmed and smiled a little, but it only lasted for a second. He sighed. "No, but seriously, if you really think about it, we could actually get elves to have blue _and_ brown eyes. First you, then this kid, then that kid's kids, then that kid's kid's kids, then that kid's kid's kid's kids, then _that_ kid's—"

"Okay, okay, I _get_ it," she giggled cracking a real smile. Her breathy laugh warmed his heart and he felt her chest move against his own.

"We'll be fine, okay?" he said, pecking her forehead with a kiss.

She nodded, her bright smile still on her face. "Okay."

* * *

 **a/n: sorry for it being so short!**


	4. Chapter 4

Keefe always loved waking up next to Sophie in the mornings, with the sun streaming in through the lacy curtains. It illuminated her hair and made her skin look all sun-kissed and glowey, and she looked so serene and peaceful. And that made him feel peaceful and safe.

He remembered the first time he had snuggled up next to her and she had graciously let him sleep next to her. Sophie had had a cold and had been drowsy and bed-ridden. It was night and Keefe had never really admitted it to her, but he a) didn't like sleeping in his house with his dad, b) had just had a nightmare, and c) he. . . Really missed her.

He'd light-leaped to her house and had been too afraid to use the front door in fear that Grady or Sandor would open it and shoo him away, so he had levitated up to Sophie's window, praying he wasn't caught by any gnomes and no one thought he was a creep.

He tapped the glass lightly and he couldn't see Sophie or even her bed from the angle the window was at, and because her room was dark. But then he saw the light of a moon-jar.

She came to her window, barely looking alarmed, but very sleepy. Her hair was done in a loose ponytail and she opened the window, taking his hand and dragging him inside as his levitation began to get a little shaky.

He stumbled into the flowered carpet as she closed the window and yawned, asking him what he was doing. Asking him if everything was okay.

She was sick and tired and he had showed up with no warning, yet she was trying to make sure _he_ was alright.

He'd managed to assure her he was okay, and she had stumbled back into bed, her words getting softer and quieter as each minute passed.

He went over and offered to tuck her in, to which she didn't protest. He knew Sandor could hear their entire conversation outside and would probably tease Sophie about it in the morning, which made him smile.

"I'm going to go back home now, okay?"

And he watched her dark, long eyelashes flutter in the dim light and a frown form on her pink lips. "Keefe?" she whispered, voice sounding hoarse.

"Yeah, Foster?" he asked softly , containing his smile as best he could. She was being adorable, as usual.

She sat upright slowly again, giving a little, "Hmph," of discomfort. Keefe frowned, and he opened to mouth to tell her to stop, when she suddenly scooted over. She laid back down and snuggled her face into the pillow on the opposite side of the bed, patting the spot in which she had just laid a few seconds before.

Keefe rose a brow, confused. "I'm not sure I'm understanding, Fo—"

"Lay down," she whispered. "Stay here."

He blinked, watching her for any signs that what she was saying was a joke. "Are you sure? I'm really fine, okay? I don't want to bother you or—"

He was cut off by Sophie reaching and trying to grab his hand. She was obviously too exhausted to get up and take it or drag him onto the fluffy sheets, because she wasn't reaching anywhere near it—only in the general direction.

He lifted his hand, letting it get closer to hers, and he ignored his heart ramming in his ribcage as she intertwined her fingers with his, tugging lightly.

He smiled softly, the small gesture warming his insides. He was glad he hadn't changed back into day clothes like he had planned, but it still felt weird slipping off his soft brown shoes and sliding into her canopied bed.

He tried not to shuffle or move the bed too much as he got under the covers and laid his head down in the pillow, looking at Sophie laying across from him. Her cheek was smushed against the pillow and he noticed an eyelash on her cheek. Her breathing had become slower and he knew she was asleep when she let out a soft snore.

"Night, Foster," he had whispered.

Closing his eyes in that bed, he had the best night sleep he had gotten in a long time.

That has been years ago. So much time has passed since he'd finally confessed his feelings for her, since she'd told him she reciprocated those feelings, since they started dating, got engaged, got married. . .

And now they were having a baby.

Keefe wasn't sure he was ever going to get used to thinking about that, or being reminded of Sophie's pregnancy. Sure, he had only been told a few days ago, but it seemed like it would always feel like new news.

Sophie shifted in the bed and Keefe watched as she turned over, blinking her brown orbs, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the light. She stretched, taking in a deep breath before running a hand through her slightly messy hair. "Hey," she said in low volume, her voice taut with drowsiness.

"Hi, Babe," he greeted, sitting up and shifting over towards her. He cupped her face and kissed her, grinning down at her.

She giggled when he pulled away. "You're such a dork."

"But you still love me," he reminded, waggling his eyebrows. Leaning over and pecking her lips playfully again .

She was lost to a fit of giggles when he pulled away, his hands still on her cheeks and jaw. "Help me up, idiot, " she laughed.

He took his hands away from her face after a wink and took her hands, pulling her into an upright position in the bed. Swamped in covers, she kicked and pushed them off her body with her feet. "Well, you woke me up," she pouted.

"Hey, I am _way_ better than any alarm clock," he joked, getting out of the bed and walking over to her side. He took her hands against her will, chuckling as she rolled her eyes.

"I can get out of bed on my own," she protested.

Nonetheless, he pulled her out of the bed and up onto her feet.

* * *

 **a/n: what... what even is this chapter**


	5. Chapter 5

**_A few weeks later_**.

* * *

"Do you want to go with me today?" Sophie called from the bedroom, getting ready for the day.

She heard Keefe's footsteps in the hallways and he poked his head into the room. "Uh, remind me where you're going. . ."

Sophie turned around after slipping into her pants, raising an elegantly arched eyebrow. "You're being serious right now?"

"Uh. . . No. . ." He said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck, pushing his brain to remember. He cringed when she rolled her honey eyes at him. "Sorry, babe," he mumbled, fully entering the room. He began searching for his belt in a few of the dressers, trying desperately to remember whatever Sophie wanted him to come to.

She sighed. "You know, you have a photographic memory."

"Yes, which is what makes it much harder to find the things that I need to find. Everything is buried under hours of memories. Plus, I don't have the strongest photographic memory. Photographic memory doesn't necessarily mean that whoever has one just looks at something and immediately can forever remember it. Some photographic memories aren't strong enough, and you have to look at it twice in order to—"

"Are you actually trying to lecture _me_ on photographic memories right now?"

He laughed, still rifling through the dressers. "No, I'm only teasing you. You know that."

Even though he could feel slight annoyance radiating off of her, the corners of her lips twitched with a smile. " _Well_ ," she started, "since you can't seem to remember for some absurd reason, _I_ am headed to the Women's Center today. Getting a checkup on the baby. Also getting an ultrasound."

He had been down on his knees, looking in the bottom drawer of the dresser when she said it. After the words left her mouth and it clicked on his head, he tried to stand up in sudden surprise, accidentally hitting his head on the top drawer he had left open

Sophie covered her mouth as she sucked in a shocked breath, then proceeding to burst into laughter. "Oh, Keefe," she attempted to sooth through her laughing, approaching him placing a hand on his shoulder.

He held the back of his head and slowly stood up, turning around and facing his giggling wife. "You think this is real funny, huh?" he asked as her eyes started to turn misty.

She got control of her fit after a few seconds, taking in deep breaths and wiping her eyes. "I'm so sorry," she apologized, letting out one last breathless laugh. "I promise I don't think it's funny that you got hurt, you just—"

"It's fine," he interrupted, the pain fading. "I'm not angry."

Her smile fell, but not in a sad way. The room grew silent as he watched her adoringly, and she looked at him, mentally tracing the contours of his face: his jaw, his chin, his nose, his cheekbones. . .

"So. . . You're going to come with?" she questioned, her voice growing quiet. She began chewing on her lower lip, lightly rolling on the

Keefe felt the hope coming off her in waves and it made his stomach flip. "Why wouldn't I come with?" he asked incredulously, utter shock slipping into his voice. "We're going to see our baby."

The way Keefe said it made her heart melt and her insides filled with some fuzzy sort of feeling. "Okay," she whispered, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. She was sure he felt the pure joy washing off her like waves in the ocean, and her cheeks tinted with pink at the way he looked at her.

"You're cute," he complimented.

"Uh-huh, okay," she said, waving him off. She slipped off her baggy pajama shirt, pulling the fabric over her head and off her arms. She readjusted her bra and threw the shirt into the hamper in the corner of the room, going to slip on her new shirt for the day.

Keefe frowned and his eyebrows pressed together. "Hey, hold on a second," he said, holding out his arm to make sure she didn't put on her shirt.

"Keefe, c'mon now, don't act like a perver—"

"I'm not! I swear! Just wait!" he begged. She pressed her eyebrows together, watching his gaze as it lowered on her body.

"Keefe—" she started saying warningly, her eyes narrowing. "I don't appreciate you messing around and. . ."

She looked at his eyes and studied his face, finally noticing the look of surprise painted across his face. His face had been twisted in shock for a few good seconds, but she watched as it faded and became soft.

She looked down, trying to see what he was paying so much attention to. She saw nothing out of the ordinary. "Keefe, are you feeling alright?" she asked, turning towards him, actual concern lacing into her voice.

Keefe looked up at her and blinked , his mouth opening several times as if he were going to say something, but he never got the words out. Finally, he stuttered, "I–I just noticed. . . You. . ."

"I. . ?" she prodded, growing genuinely concerned. And a little irritated.

"You're starting to show," he said, voice cracking a little.

She looked down at the small baby bump, putting a hand to it self-consciously. "Mhm," she answered. Then she giggled. "I guess you haven't been able to see with all the big shirts I've been wearing around the house."

"Yeah," he agreed, running a hand through his hair and tearing his eyes away from her stomach.

"Keefe?" she whispered. "Are you. . . Crying?"

He turned back to her, his eyes filling with blurry tears. He nodded slowly, taking a deep breath to try and calm his nerves. "This is all getting. . . Super real, Foster," he choked out. "We're having a kid. I'm gonna be a _dad_. You're going to be a _mom_. Oh my. . . Oh my _gosh_."

He covered his face with his hands, then ran his hands down his face, exhaling slowly. He rubbed his forehead and temples as if he had a headache.

"Keefe," Sophie started, " are you sure you're okay with all of this? Don't take that wrong: I. . . I really do want you to help raise the baby, but if it's gonna—"

He laughed lightly all of a sudden, sniffling. "You're already showing," he said, his voice thick. "This is all going to go by so fast. Foster. . ."

Sophie shook her head, blinking her eyes quickly in an attempt to hold the years back. "Keefe, come on now, don't tell me you're actually crying. Please, don't tell me you're really crying. You're gonna make me cry —don't make the pregnant lady cry," she begged, a sob already bubbling up in her chest.

Keefe laughed, taking a step forward and pulling her to his chest, rubbing her back and planting kisses on top of her head.


	6. Chapter 6

**a/n: finally—a bit of a longer chapter!**

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 **r.r**

 **periwinkleluv9; thank you so much for being my first reviewer!**

 **i _am_ going to have a chapter where sophie tells more people. **

**i have it all planned, however, i don't know when i'm going to do it, because the time that i have set for her to tell someone new is a bit later in her pregnancy and i don't want to skip through months and months of her pregnancy just to do that chapter, because then this fanfiction will be over pretty much just like that.**

 **cressida123 + buddingwriter101; thank you very much for the support and compliments, loves! :3**

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Sophie and Keefe sat in the waiting room at the Women's Center, Keefe looking around at the other women, girls, kids, and couples all sitting around. A few kids played with little blocks and various toys at one of the coffee tables in the waiting room, giggling.

Keefe kept his arm wrapped around Sophie's shoulder, observing a couple who had a newborn baby. Sophie noticed and glanced over at him, smiling, knowing what he was wondering. "They can come here after the baby is born, too, to receive any help if they need it. I think they actually have some parenting classes, as well."

Keefe nodded, watching how happy the couple seemed with their baby. They spoke quietly to it, the baby occasionally letting out a cry. "A parenting class might actually be useful."

She looked at him and rose one of her elegant eyebrows, trying to imagine her husband willingly taking a class. "Actually?"

He shrugged, not picking up on how shocked she was. "Sure, why not? Might be good to pick up a few tips."

Sophie blinked and put a hand on his chest, causing him to turn away from the couple and their newborn, and look her directly in the eyes. After a couple seconds she swallowed and said, "You're going to be great, you know. You don't need a parenting class." She paused a few more seconds as if to let him soak in the words. "Besides, those class "lessons" are probably just people's opinions—the techniques aren't proven to work with _everybody's_ kids."

"Yeah," he agreed, "I suppose so, but what's the harm? I mean, maybe I could learn something. I just. . ." He cleared his throat. "Don't want to mess anything up."

They kept their voices low so then people wouldn't overhear them and they wouldn't disturb people. But it helped that the kids were rather loud, playing with their toys. The guardians and older siblings also had to occasionally scold them and attempt to make them quiet down.

Sophie took her hand off Keefe's chest, blushing as she realized that other people could notice the intimate, couple-y moment they were having and would have normally had at home.

"You know," Keefe said, getting her attention, "I think—"

A woman suddenly strode into the waiting room, holding a clipboard in her hands. Keefe cut himself off, listening for what she was about to say. "Sophie?" she called. "Do we have a Sophie?"

Sophie stood up, nodding her head and waving her hand, getting the attention of the woman. The woman nodded in acknowledgment and made a motion for Sophie to follow her, so she waited until Keefe stood and they started following. They walked down a few hallways, making quite a few more turns than Sophie would have liked, until they came upon the room they had to sit in.

The room was pretty bare, except for a sink equipped with amenities, a table with a desktop computer, the examining table already prepped with paper, and the blocky, white ultrasound machine.

Sophie sat on the cot, the white paper crinkling as she adjusted her sitting position. She folded her hands on her lap, expecting Keefe to go and sit in one of the chairs near the desk with the computer and jars full of cotton balls and popsicle sticks, but instead he made his way around the cot near the wall where he wouldn't be in the way of anything, and laced his fingers through Sophie's with one of his hands.

She smiled in appreciation at the small gesture, her stomach getting all-too-familiar butferflies as she blushed.

The nurse began doing a physical on Sophie, taking her blood pressure, height, weight, and other important physical things.

She left the room in a flurry after everything was done, saying she would be back with the doctor. Sophie blew out a breath, trying to shake her nerves.

"You'll be fine, okay?" Keefe said. "Just an ultrasound."

He squeezed her hand and her lips twitched. "You're shaking."

He sighed in the most dramatic way possible and she laughed at his theatrics. "C'mon now, Foster. We're finally going to see our baby. Yeah, I'm a little. . . Excited, but—"

"Oh, we're calling it excitement now, huh?" she teased, eyes twinkling in might as she stated up at her husband.

The door suddenly opened and the nurse stride back into the room, tailing behind a taller woman with dark skin like a midnight sky and black curly, bobcut hair. She wore round glasses and her teeth were extremely white, a great contrast against her skin.

"Hello," she greeted, outstretched a hand for Sophie to take. She shook it, hoping that the woman couldn't feel her erratic heartbeat through her fingers. "I'm Dr. Mercado, and I'll be your OB throughout the duration of your pregnancy."

She must've noticed how tense Sophie was, because she added, "You have absolutely nothing to be worried about. I'll take good care of you, okay?"

"Uh, thank you, Dr. Mercado."

She waved Sophie off. "Call me Astra," she offered with a grin. "And, if you're all good, we can get started?"

"Uh, o-on what?"

Dr. Mercado smiled. "I'd like to start with a blood test, if that's okay with you."

Sophie held back her cringe, trying her hardest not to imagine the needle. "Sure," she answered, thankful her voice didn't shake too much.

Keefe caressed the top of her hand with his thumb reminding her she wasn't alone in this. She had him. She'd be okay.

Astra took off her glasses and replaced them with a pair of spectacles that were much too familiar. Elwin had the same pair. Sophie rose an eyebrow as Astra moved the chair over to the cot and sat down, asking Sophie to hold out her wrist.

Sophie did as Dr. Mercado asked and watched as she snapped her fingers, a little ball of red light coming to life. The orb moved downward until it was right up against the inside of her wrist, glazing over the light blue veins she could barely see here and there. Sophie didn't feel anything, which she was very much grateful for.

Astra began mumbling to herself, then snapped her fingers, causing the orb to go away. She took off the spectacles, facing Sophie. "Well, your iron levels are a little low, but it's nothing to worry about at this point. Your blood glucose levels are also a little low, though, and that's what worries me. Have you been eating much?"

"No," Sophie mumbled, red dotting her cheeks. "Morning sickness has been kinda. . . Bad," she admitted, her mind flashing to the multiple times over the weeks that Keefe had woken up in the middle of the night to Sophie wretching into the toilet. She swore the baby was trying to get her intestines ripped out or something, because even after she knew her stomach was fully drained, it continued to heave and make her gag.

"I'm sorry to hear you've been experiencing discomfort. I can send you with some multivitamins or an elixir or two designed to help with that, if you'd like. How does that sound?"

"That sounds nice," she said appreciatively.

"But, otherwise, you do need to be eating. Your baby requires a lot of nutrients to get through a successful term. _You_ need nutrients to be able to get through your days without feeling faint. Part of your nausea can be attributed with your low glucose levels. And remember: It's not just your body anymore—it's your baby's first home."

Sophie had never thought of it that way, and a little bit of happy electricity shot through her veins at the fact that she was completely caring for a tending to this baby, keeping it alive. Growing it. "I understand."

"Have you been drinking plenty of water or fluids?"

Sophie nodded, feeling a little more than happy that she had at least done _one_ thing right. She hadn't liked admitting she hadn't been eating much.

"Good," Astra praised. "Your body needs that after getting sick like that. Otherwise you grow extremely dehydrated. Keep that up for me, okay?"

Sophie nodded, glad that so far, things had gone pretty well.

"So, now that we've checked up on you, how about we get to the baby's end?"

Sophie glanced at Keefe, waiting for his answer. He nodded, indicating he was as ready as she was, and Sophie said, "Yes."

Dr. Mercado smiled as the nurse started setting up the equipment with her. "Now, let me walk your through this," Astra said as she pulled out a tube and slid latex gloves onto her hands. It was hard for Sophie not to feel like she was a science experiment about to get poked and prodded with needles by some mad scientist.

"The 12-week ultrasound is probably the first major event to look forward to during a pregnancy—you get to see your little one for the first time. And, as you may have guessed, you are around 12 weeks in."

"Wow," Sophie breathed, not realizing how much time has gone on. She'd only found out was she was pregnant a few weeks ago.

Astra smiled and continued, "However, the ultrasound can actually happen within 11 to 13 weeks. At this stage, believe it or not, all your baby's limbs, organs, bones, and muscles are fully-formed."

Keefe had a look of amusement on his face, and Sophie's matched his. Maybe even rivaled his, and she had to hold back another, "Wow."

"During the scan," Dr. Mercado continued, "high-frequency sound waves are emitted from a hand-held device, known as a transducer, through the abdomen." She held up the little device , which Sophie knew would soon be placed on her stomach. "When the waves come into contact with solid tissue, this is imaged on the screen to be interpreted by a sonographer." She gestured to herself. "I am that sonographer."

She turned on the equipment, typing some things into a small computer that the nurse had moved nearby. She entered the date, Sophie's full name, ID day, and much more.

Sophie watched the ultrasound screen, blinking when it turned to complete black with some words up in some of the corners .

"Now," Astra said, taking the tube and squeezing some gel into her gloved palm, "if you could lift up your shirt and lean back for me, hun, that would be wonderful."

Sophie did as she was told, laying back on the slightly-upright cot, lifting up her shirt and holding onto Keefe's hand.

Dr. Mercado spoke as she smeared the cold gel into Sophie's plump abdomen. "Your baby will still be very small – about 6 cm long. However, he or she will be fully formed, with all the organs in place. The next phase is simply to grow, as well as practicing breathing and sucking movements. Your baby can suck their thumb, as well as suck in the fluid inside the uterus that is there to keep them safe, cozy, and cushioned."

Sophie smiled at that.

"Your baby will be moving about your womb a lot, although they are so small you won't feel anything. As they move, their wrists and elbows bend. The eyelids are still fused shut, but they have now moved from the side of the head to the final position at the front.

"This is also the week your little one starts practicing reflexes, including clenching the eye muscles, making sucking actions with the mouth, and bending fingers and toes. If you prod your belly, your baby will squirm, although you won't feel the movement just yet."

Dr. Mercado picked up the transducer, moving towards Sophie. "So, you said you've been drinking a lot of water?" When Sophie nodded, she said, "Good. That will give us a clearer picture, because drinking lots of water will lift up the uterus."

She set the transducer into Sophie's abdomen, moving it around the region slowly, staring at the screen. Sophie looked up at it, noticing how it had turned from black to some grayscale mess, like an abstract painting. She squinted, trying to see anything that looked remotely like a baby, but didn't see anything.

Dr. Mercado laughed as she moved the transducer around. "Wow, looks like your baby is playing a little game of hide and seek here. Now, if I just place a little pressure. . ."

The doctor took her other gloved hand and pressed two fingers lightly on Sophie's stomach, slowly increasing pressure.

Sophie blinked and nearly gasped as Dr. Mercado moved the transducer a little and she noticed movement.

"Ah, would you look at that—there they are. And see? They're squirming just like I told you."

Sophie could barely believe what she was seeing. "Keefe. . ." she said slowly.

Dr. Mercado smiled at the couple's baffled expressions. "That right there is your baby. You can see the eye sockets are developed, their forehead, and the cute little button nose."

Sophie laughed, a sob bubbling up in her chest. She bit her lower lip. "Look, Keefe. Look at their tiny hands and feet."

Keefe squeezed her hand, looking down at her with misty eyes. Sophie's own tear-filled eyes rivaled his and she let out another breathless laugh as she looked at the screen. "They're sucking their thumb."

Sure enough, the little baby was indeed sucking on their black-and-white thumb, curled up and looking very snug.

"Want to see something cool?"

"Alright," Sophie agreed, gripping Keefe's hand as he bent over and kissed her head, sniffling a little.

The nurse kindly rotated the image so that the fetus could be seen more clearly. A tiny, rapid flickering appeared on the screen. She amplified the area and pulled up a graph.

Dr. Mercado grinned. "You see that? That flickering?"

Sophie nodded, trying to play it cool. She didn't want to look like a complete, bawling sob, so she tried her best to contain her excitement and the floodgates.

"It's a little low, 91 bpm, but nothing to be too concerned over because it increases by the day," Dr. Mercado explained. "But that? That's your baby's heartbeat, Sophie."

Sophie's breath caught in her chest. She froze, enraptured by the rapid, insistent flickering on the screen. Her shaking hand went to her mouth in shock.

It was alive. And its heart was beating.

And suddenly, it hit her all at once.

There was a being—an actual _living_ being _—_ growing inside of her.

Sophie didn't even realize tears had been trailing down her cheeks until the nurse cooed softly and Keefe made sure he has a good hold on her hand to comfort her. She started crying harder, her whole body wracked with sobs and shudders and shoulders shaking heavily. She let out a breathless, elated, tear filled laughed as she watched the heartbeat. It was unbelievable.

This was Keefe and her baby.

And she absolutely loved them.


	7. Chapter 7

Keefe curled a strand of Sophie's hair between his fingers, occasionally threading his hands through her hair. She lay next to him in their bed in the dark, the moonlight streaming in through the window as their only source of light.

She watched him with unwavering, tired brown eyes as he ran a thumb down her cheek. "What are you thinking?" she asked quietly, adjusting her body position and tucking the small pillow more under her baby bump.

Keefe had noticed how Sophie had started to prefer placing a small pillow against orbit underneath it whenever she slept in her side in bed, because it supported her. She said that it helped straighten her back and put less strain on it. Come to think of it, poor Sophie had been complaining about lower back pain for awhile.

"Hmm," Keefe hummed, "funny question, coming from someone who has full access to my thoughts. _But_ , since you so very clearly want to know from me directly. . . A lot of things."

They didn't necessarily know why, but they both spoke in low, wispy soft volumes. It just seemed right in the blissful silence and the dark of the night.

"That's not very specific," she drawled out, tugging on the collar of his pajama shirt and tugging his face closer. He laughed when her red lips went into a smirk and he kissed her, relishing the butterflies he felt waving in her stomach.

It was weird how he could sense the source of her emotions, knowing that when she was sad her chest would tighten and he could feel it. Knowing when she was embarrassed her cheeks and body would either flame shamefully—or it would be the good kind of embarrassment where she'd be caught acting cute, get teased, and then light heat would rise in her cheeks and her stomach would do a flip or two.

He chuckled as he pulled away. "You never willingly kiss me, _or_ initiate a kiss. What is this?"

She rolled her eyes, shoving him back lightly by placing a hand on the planes of his stomach. "Oh yeah, _sure_. Make it like I never kiss you. You do realize we kiss _way_ more than the average couple?"

He felt the heat bloom on her face, neck, and a little down to her chest after she realized what had really come out of her mouth. It sounded especially different since they were speaking in hushed, velvety whispers.

She placed a hand to her baby bump, avoiding eye contact as she rode out the waves of her embarrassment.

Keefe smirked at her. "C'mon, now, Foster. Don't get all closed off on me, now. We were starting to have a little moment there, don't you—"

"No, we were not," she cut off, but not in a rude or snappy way. Her voice was a little thick, her words a little shaky as she tried to fight off the blush that darkened her cheeks even in the dim light. " _Anyway_ , we were talking about what you were thinking about. Pray tell? A penny for your thoughts?"

He contemplated letting the subject go and giving in to her attempt to distract him from their conversation about their kisses and large amount of affectionate gestures they tended to give one another. He wanted to tease her more, watch her crumble to her little nervous, babbling self that took over whenever he talked to her about lovey-dovey things, complimented her, or talked about doing some random romantic act just for her.

Begrudgingly, he decided to let it go and give her some peace from his teasing. He loved doing it, loved watching her melt and stumble for words or some new topic to change the subject, but over the years he had learned when Sophie liked for it to stop. He knew when to give the right amount of jokes, and when to give the right amount of his true, raw, unedited feelings straight-forward to his wife.

"I started reading some articles, magazines, and books on pregnancy and parenting and babies in the womb—stuff like that," he answered honestly, some sort of husk in his voice as he brushed his knuckles against her small, plump belly.

Her blush returned, not to any surprise of his. "Wait, really?" she questioned.

"Mhm," he replied, a little bit of pride swelling somewhere inside him. He always felt good doing something he knew Foster would like or appreciate. "I actually found out some interesting stuff."

"Like what?" she asked, jumping to the question on cue. She didn't miss a beat, asking it in full curiosity right as he finished his sentence.

He smiled, a little more than excited to share with her. Some of the stuff was actually pretty cool to find out. He'd thought pregnancy was basically just like a little seed in a pod—it just sits there and, well, grows. But it turned out that was pretty wrong.

"I'm sure you know some of this, since you're a little genius and all—and I'm just the clueless male—but, babies do a lot while in the womb. An article was saying that the amniotic fluid inside the womb, which cushions the baby and helps them practice their sucking and swallowing movements, can. . . Like, be altered by what you eat. The baby can actually relatively taste what you've eaten if they suck in the amniotic fluid. Apparently a few doctors ran some tests and found that whenever the mother ate sweeter foods, the baby sucked in more fluid, but vise-versa when the mother had bitter or sour foods."

Sophie was definitely amused at the information, but she was also finding it odd that Keefe didn't find what he was saying it reading to be weird. She didn't want to put it past him—Keefe could be very mature if he tried—but she had figured that he would turn back to his boyish, kiddish ways when he brought up the fluid.

It was a weird concept to think about at first, but it actually made very much sense. It would be _extremely_ weird if it were dry in the womb. And unnatural. And. . It actually sounded painful, the more Sophie thought about it.

She repressed the thoughts and finally answered, "That's. . . Actually kind of interesting. You took the time to read about that? . . . _You_?"

She hadn't meant it in a bad way, but. . . Keefe wasn't the sit-down-and-read sort of guy.

He grinned. "Wow, try to hold back the enthusiasm, and shock, geez. I have the capability of reading, you know. Yeah, it's not something I would deliberately choose to do, but, I'll do it once in awhile to tests the waters and see if I'll finally come around and enjoy reading. Or, I'll read if it's for something important." He said the last part referring entirely to her, and she knew it.

"Anything else?"

"Mmm, uh, oh! Babies make lots of facial expressions and react to sound outside the womb and their mother's voice," he said, reciting the facts he'd learned. "They found that babies will grimace, frown, and even smile. They'll cry while in the womb, too."

He felt Sophie's stomach plummet. "Oh," he laughed, " don't worry. It's only if they hear a loud sound and get startled, Foster. And that's what I was saying about them reacting to sounds, as well. Their heart rate will increase at a sudden, loud sound or they'll smile when they hear their mom or dad's voice. They've even been known to react to music in different ways. Some music can calm them, other music will make them anxious or scared."

"Huh," Sophie said. "That's. . Wow. When can an unborn baby begin to hear?"

Keefe sighed. "I'm just gonna recite the whole article to you, will that make you happy?" he teased. She rolled her eyes, but then he started.

"According to an online website," he cleared his throat dramatically, " 'Your baby's ears begin to grow when you're about eight weeks pregnant and are completely formed by about 24 weeks. But your baby can start hearing their first sounds—like your heartbeat or blood whooshing through the umbilical cord—around 18 weeks, when the bones of the inner ear and the nerve endings from the brain are developed enough. They may even be startled by loud noises. By week 25, your baby can start to hear your voice and your partner's, and will soon start to recognize them—so this is a great time to chat your baby up and read to them. Another interesting fact: Research shows that a baby's heart rate often slows down when their mom is speaking, a sign that they not only hear and recognize the sound, but are calmed by it. Your voices will sound a bit muffled to your baby—about as well as you hear under water—because the ears are still covered with vernix: the thick, sticky coating that protects the skin from becoming chapped by the amniotic fluid. You may notice your baby's movements change in response to sounds—like a sudden kick after a door slams, for example. In fact, some doctors suggest getting your baby accustomed to sounds they're likely to hear as a newborn (like the vacuum cleaner or dishwasher) now, so they won't be as likely to wake them up or make them cry once she's born.'"

Sophie blinked from shock and surprise at the new information, but also at the fact that Keefe just effortlessly recruited the entire thing. Yes, he had his photographic memory to help him, but as they had learned the other day, sometimes he had to read/remind himself of it twice, just to make sure he could easily recall. "You took the time to memorize that article?"

"Well, I wanted to share it with you." He shrugged, but the corners of his lips twitched when Sophie's heart switched to hummingbird mode.

She smiled and whispered, "Thank you."

Keefe grinned. "Anytime, Foster."

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 **a/n: guyssss i need some ideas for some more fluffy chapters, oof. request or give me ideas? pretty please?**


	8. Chapter 8

**a/n: i intend to finish this fanfic. i do not want this one to go on hiatus or be discontinued.**

 **also, ugh, sorry for any spellings typos. auto correct is a bish.**

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Keefe entered the large house that he got to proudly say he owned with his wife, kicking off the now-frozen mud and snow from his shoes on the step outside before fully walking in. He closed the door has behind him and slipped off his cape, peering around for any sign of Sophie.

She wasn't anywhere to be seen, and Keefe didn't hear anything, so a lump caught in his throat as worry rose in the pit of his stomach.

He tried to shove down the feeling that something was wrong, because it was making him feel more nauseous than he had been when he first walked in the door.

To say that work has gone well for him that day was. . . Entirely wrong. He'd had piles of paperwork to fill out the first half of the day, which was exhausting in and of itself. But then he'd been called to go and investigate some mysterious sight for the Council out in the middle of some murky swamp in the Neutral Territories: hence the muddy boots. That had _not_ been his idea of fun.

And to top it all off when he got back to his office? Biana hailed him.

It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the brunettes presence or bubbly personality—she actually made the atmosphere warm and welcoming wherever she went, which was something he'd always admired. And, you know, it was more fun than he would ever admit, to get to watch Biana glamor his wife up.

Now, what he _didn't_ like was how good she was at dragging information out of someone or guessing what they were hiding with just a look in their eyes.

And Keefe _or_ Sophie had yet to tell _anyone_ else except for Dr. Mercado and Elwin about their little baby-to-be.

Biana knew something was up right away between him and Sophie. Biana seemed to have some sort of extra sense for couple problems or secrets and she had another knack for knowing who was meant to be and which duo was going to probably end up getting a match fail. Which, he supposed, was precisely why she became a Matchmaker.

Biana knew Sophie was never really on-board with the whole "perfect genetics" matching system, and over time Sophie really seemed to rub off on the brunette—and, dare he say, the rest of Sophie & Co. Thus, Biana went behind the rest of the Matchmaker's backs and the Council's by really studying the person's personality, along with other elves who had signed up.

She didn't peek at their genetics, or their reproduction stats—she looked at their heart (metaphorically, of course) and matched them with people she thought might be their destined soulmates. She matched them for love, not for the stupid system.

 _That_ was probably the sole reason why and how Biana knew Keefe was hiding something with Sophie. She always seemed to know everything about her self-proclaimed "OTP."

You know, whatever that meant.

Keefe had ended the call as quickly as he could, praying that she hadn't figured it out by the look in his eyes or the accidental rambling he'd done. What if he'd given it away? What if she told people?

The second one was his worst fear, because a few minutes after he'd severed the call with the excited, prying Matchmaker, conveniently, Fitz, Dex, Tam, and Linh had _all_ tried hailing him. Repeatedly. To no end.

They'd been calling back so much he had almost considered blocking them for a time to ensure they wouldn't continually try and pester him until he picked up. Luckily, the hails eventually stopped. But then the messages started in.

He'd had to put his Imparter on silent.

"Foster?" he called out steadily into the silent house. There was no reply, and before Keefe knew it he was running around the house like a freak trying to find his wife.

He checked every room available, his heart dropping further towards his knees every time he opened a door and found another Sophie-empty room.

"Foster? Sophie?" he asked, starting to become more frantic. He didn't feel like using his old nickname for her. He liked to use it as a regular term of endearment, but calling out for her with it when she was missing did _not_ make him feel good. "Soph? Sophie? Hello?"

His heartbeat was pounding in his throat now as he ripped open the last door, the breath he had been holding in slipping out when a blonde elf with a noticeable baby bump jumped up in the center of the room, clearly startled.

Sophie popped out one of her white ear buds, the music leaking into the quiet room. "Keefe! You scared me!" she scolded, cheeks flushed.

She pushed pause on the music and Keefe didn't miss a beat, his feet taking him forward as he enveloped her in a tight hug.

She let out a small, "Oof," then chuckled, her face smushed into his chest as she struggled to get her arms out from his crushing hug, to put them around him, too. He finally pulled back and she peered up at him, ready to say something as her mouth opened and began to form a word. She rose an eyebrow when she noticed the odd look on his face, her mouth changing to something new.

"Hey, is something—"

"I couldn't find you!" he blurted. "I was freaking out! I thought that you. . . I don't know! You were just _gone_!" he accused, still a little breathless from all the running around he had done.

Sophie was silent and still at first, watching him with that confused expression. Then her face softened and she broke out into the most warm, contagious smile and she giggled. "Aw, Keefe, I'm really sorry–honestly. I didn't hear you come in. I was listening to music." She lifted up the ear buds she had taken out moments before, a silly glint in her eyes. "Were you calling for me?"

"Of course I was calling for you! I was five seconds away from hailing everyone we knew to go on a rampage to figure out where the heck you were!" he said exasperated, the volume of his voice still a little raised.

She giggled again, grabbing the fabric of his sleeves on his biceps, rising on her tiptoes and pecking the tip of his nose with her soft lips. "I'm sorry, hun," she apologized when she had gotten back down to her normal height. "I was setting up the baby's room."

She moved to the side to show him her work, and he blinked as he noticed the boxes. There were a few that were unpacked, but the majority of them had just been moved upstairs. He noticed some new curtains on the windows and the pieces of the crib lying out that Sophie had obviously been working on putting together.

"It's a work-in-progress," she admitted, looking at the boxes. "I didn't really get much done, the more that I look at it—"

"What?" Keefe interrupted. "You got a lot done, what the heck are you even talking about? This room was full of stuff when I left this morning! Now it's cleared out, you obviously swept the area, you trudged all these boxes upstairs, took down the old curtains and out up some new ones, you unpacked a few of the boxes, and you even started on the crib."

He pointed to it and she blushed at his praise. He began walking over to it to see how much she had put together when he noticed a small, open tin on the floor. He rose a teasing eyebrow and looked back at her. "Are these cookies?"

"Hey," Sophie said, embarrassed, "If I'm craving cookies, I'm going to get myself some cookies. End of story."

He chuckled, bending over and eating one from the tin. Sophie rolled her eyes, but didn't scold or protest against him taking one. She approached him from behind as he pulled out the crib's instruction pamphlet, beginning to read.

"How was work?" she asked.

Keefe had to take a second to not choke on his cookie. He swallowed, licking his thumb and turning the page, avoiding turning around and making the contact with Sophie, who was standing behind him and watching over his shoulder. ". . .Uh, good, I guess."

"Just plain old good? How so?" she prodded, clearly already not buying it.

He blew out a breath, slowly closed the pamphlet and stood up, taking a second to prepare himself before turning around and facing his wife. She had that prying look on her face where she knew something was up and there was something he was clearly holding back from her.

"Did something happen?"

"What? No."

"Keefe. . ." she said, a bit of a warning time in her voice. She sighed, her mood changing from slight anger to regret and something else that was soft. "You know you can tell me if something happened."

He nodded, already prepared to spill the days events. And he did.

He explained of the not-so-stellar day that had stressed him out, but then he got to the real problem he was wrestling with. He told her if the call with Biana, very happy when he didn't detect any angry vibes from Sophie the entire conversation.

When he finished speaking, it was silent for a spell, both of Sophie's hands covering her belly. She finally looked up at him. "It's not bad if she knows, you realize."

"What? Why not? I thought we were waiting to tell everyone."

"We were," Sophie agreed with a bob of her head, "but I was going to end up telling everyone at the Christmas party in a few weeks. "

Sophie had brought up Christmas a few years ago to everybody, realizing she hadn't ever explained the tradition a few humans tended to celebrate during winter. Since everyone never saw one another too often anymore, too caught up in their home or work lives, Grady and Edaline, and Alden and Della made the decision that every year they would host a get-together for the group on Christmas. It was like an annual family gathering, since they all considered one another as family.

Keefe's stomach, upon remembering that this year's party was being held at Havenfield, dropped. Sophie noticed his worried expression and smiled. "You didn't really think we could hide it from them at that party, did you? I mean, I'm _already_ showing. Imagine what it's going to be like up after a few weeks when I show up to that party."

Keefe nodded in an almost miserable way, part of him dreading telling everybody.

Sophie frowned, knowing where his worry was stemming from. "Keefe," she said softly, making him look at her, "you know Dad is just protective. And this?" She pointed to her bump. "This isn't bad."

She strode up to him, lacing her fingers through his. "I promise you that. Dad won't be angry at you for this, so why are you thinking that? It's a _baby_ , Keefe. He'll be happy! And Grady does _not_ hate you or even dislike you, whether you think so or not. Like I said, he's just _very_ overprotective." She laughed to herself, her doe eyes twinkling. They softened when she quietly added, "He knows you make me happy, and that's all he wants for me. He loves you, okay?"

She squeezed his hands and the dread filling his stomach began to vanish. "Okay," he croaked.


	9. Chapter 9

**a/n: the song "alien - acoustic" by sabrina carpenter and jonas blue (remember, the _acoustic_ version!) will actually be used for/in this chapter! please listen to it when the times comes!**

 **(and again,** _ **super**_ **sorry if there are any spelling errors! auto correct is a big problem and i also don't have a beta to help me out! sorry!)**

 **—sophie**

* * *

 **r.r**

 **Strawberryair;** _yes i did! and thank you so much for suggesting it, by the way!_

 **Cressida123;** _aw, haha, you don't have to "keep up with reviewing" . yes, i love hearing from you, but if you don't want to review, please don't feel forced to. thank you, by the way!_

 **Guest (chapter 6, jul 23);** _thank you, love! :3_

 **Guest (chapter 7, jul 26);** _the reason i say "they" or "them" when referring to the baby is because i get really ticked off when someone will call an unborn baby an "it". sometimes i mess up and call a baby that, but i really try not to. "they" is a gender-neutral pronoun, and since the gender of the baby is unknown at the current time, that is how keefe and sophie refer to the baby._

 **PeriwinkleLuv9;** _i realized that i never responded to this review! thank you so much, love!_

 **BuddingWriter101;** _a thousand thank yous! much love :3_

* * *

Keefe had come to find that Sophie suddenly liked to disappear at random times.

He didn't know if she had found it funny that he had reacted dramatically after not being able to locate her the other day—or if she wasn't even realizing she was doing it—but it was beginning to drive him nuts how many times in a day he could freak out by not finding her directly in his line of sight.

Well, during the time he was home, of course. It wasn't like he did that at work. . .Though, he did still worry about what she was getting herself into without supervision.

It wasn't that he was trying to be controlling of where she went and what she did, he just didn't like the idea of losing his pregnant wife.

Today was another day of Sophie randomly going missing. Keefe swore she'd been in the baby's room maybe only ten minutes ago when he'd poked his head in the door to check on her.

He hated the fact that he had to work on his stupid piles of paperwork while she was in there mapping out where everything was going to go, and even moving some things.

So, there Keefe was, wandering around their extensively large house, searching every room, closet, and cranny for his Foster. Where was Gigantor with his big, flat nose when he needed him?

Sure, Sophie had been taken off as his official charge years ago, but the gray goblin could still be seen once in awhile. He visited, much to Sophie and Keefe's delight.

Sophie was especially bright and bubbly whenever she got to see her childhood protector, and Keefe had to admit that it did flood back a wave of precious memories. Naturally, all of them were not happy, but most were little moments that he never wanted to forget.

They always managed to choke him up, thinking back on how much he had been through with the group. But calling them simply a "group" was a weak description for what they really were.

They were a close-knit, life-long group of people who cared deeply for one another. They were a _family_. And he loved every single one of them.

Even Bangs Boy.

"Sophie?" he called, twisting the doorknob and opening _another_ door to _another_ room. "Hun?"

He'd been at it for a couple of minutes now, winding around the hallways of their house, hoping that he'd run into her. But he'd eventually given up and accepted that if he was going to find her, he'd have to check the rooms. Which was, quit obviously, a very lengthy process.

"Foster?" he shouted down the hallway.

He swore he'd pretty much checked over every. Single. Room. In. The. House.

He ran over a mental checklist of the rooms in the house, going over which ones he had searched and the ones he had deemed a Place Where Sophie Probably Wouldn't Be.

He'd checked the bathrooms, the kitchen, the work area, the bedroom, the guest bedrooms, the baby's room, the living room, the entry way, the closets and storage closets, the storage room (yes, they had storage closets _and_ a storage room), the—

His mind ran across the one place he hadn't thought of checking that was actually a probable place for where Sophie would be. And, being his final option, he decided to take it.

Their house had a little, cozy, round cupola that Sophie absolutely adored. She'd filled the humble, but definitely not-too-small space with a little bookshelf and loved to read in there.

A willow tree also sprouted from the center in a little designated space of dirt. It was surrounded—around and under—by cement blocks, keeping the dirt and water off the wooden floors.

While many cupolas in human buildings were indefinitely small, the one on Duskvale (Sophie and Keefe's house) was much larger. But it still felt cozy and was a much more enclosed space than any other room in their house.

He ran up the winding staircase to the cupola after sprinting through hallways and up stairs to get to it, and he was near out-of-breath by the time he successfully completed the climb.

His sigh of relief was big and heavy as he caught his breath, his ice blue gaze settling on his wife. He cursed himself for not checking in the cupola first. Why hadn't he thought of that?

His breath caught in his chest as he took the time to really look over her figure standing, light streaming in through the glass roof and sides. It streamed in through the branches of the willow tree, illuminating the strands of her hair and the soft skin of her shoulders. It made the contours of her face glow—her cheekbones and the tip of her nose looked naturally highlighted in the light.

She wore a long, flowy sundress that brushed against her ankles, just barely hitting the floor. It was covered in a pattern of pastel-colored flowers, a few of them buttery yellow, some blush pink, others baby blue.

The dress hung off her shoulders, letting the air caress them and the sun warm her skin. The straps were not on her shoulders, rather wrapped around her small biceps.

Her feet were bare and she swayed back and forth, taking a few steps here and there as she danced to the music from her earbuds. She held her iPod in one hand, and the other rested on the top of her plump belly.

Her eyes were closed—clearly lost in the music—and Keefe couldn't help but be enchanted by the scene of her being herself, getting lost in something she loved.

He didn't want to approach her or ruin her moment, or scare her, but he also didn't want to be caught staring at her and looking quite stalker-ish.

He didn't have time to decide what to do as her eyes opened and her gaze settled in him, a soft smile curling on her plush lips. She mouthed a little, _hi_.

Pressing pause in her music and ceasing her swaying—which caused her shirt to stop swishing at her feet—and he couldn't help but notice how much she reminded him of a princess.

Her hair fell in soft waterfall curls against her shoulders and a little down her bare back, and her dark eyelashes fluttered as her smile brightened the sun-filled room. "Hey," she whispered, popping out an earbud. She kept her one hand rested on her bump, which was a detail that for some reason filled Keefe's stomach with some sort of fuzzy feeling.

"You okay?" she asked.

Keefe opened his mouth to say something, then quickly closed it, rethinking his words. He finally replied, "I was having trouble finding you again. I just. . . Wanted to check up. You doing alright?"

Sophie gave a bit of a weak smile and Keefe felt pulsing pain biting his back when Sophie straightened her posture. She rubbed her thumb and even a corner of her iPod into her lower back, trying in to find relief from the stabbing pain, wincing lightly. "Trying to ride out the back pain, you know? Doesn't feel too good when I sit down, so I figured I'd try and stretch a little or slowly move around. My stomach is. . . Getting heavier and really throwing me off."

He did notice a significant round-ness to her stomach that had been absent in previous days. He didn't know how long it would be until her baby bump was fully swollen and out, but he swore it seemed like she would just keep on growing.

"I don't know how women have so many kids. Especially humans. This. . . Is not easy."

Keefe offered a smile of sympathy and walked up to her, enveloping her in a hug and kissing the top of her head. He rubbed her back in light-and-slow circles, trying to help in any little way he possibly could. "I mean, elves _do_ live for a _long_ time. Women have a lot of time to have kids, or decide whether they want a kid/want _another_ kid."

"You know, I never thought of how many kids it's possible for me to have. It's almost scary."

"I know right? I don't think the world can handle too many mini Fosters running amock."

He grinned when she rolled her eyes. "No, but really, I guess I'm with you on that. It _is_ a little odd to think about, but it's also sort of cool. Humans have a limited amount of time to have a baby, so they have to make a decision fast on whether or not they really want one. But, elves have a lot of time to think over the pros and cons."

Sophie bobbed her head, leaning it against his chest.

He smiled and ruffled her hair, leaning down and kissing the ear that she took the earbud out of. "What are you listening to?"

Sophie peered up at him and grabbed the earbud, reached up, and put it into his ear. He lifted his hand and adjusted it, watching as she grabbed her iPod and started the song over, turning up the volume a few notches and fluttering her eyelids closed.

She rested her head back onto his chest and the song turned on, the tune softly playing in his ears. It started off with a piano sweetly playing, but then a female began vocalizing. The tempo was kind of slow, but very compelling and moving.

Keefe found himself smiling down at Sophie and closing his hand over the one that held her iPod. Sophie opened her eyes and blinked up at him as he took the iPod and slipped it into his pants pocket. It tugged a little on the earbud wires, but not so much that they were pulled from their ears: it just ensured that Sophie had to stay close.

With their bodies pressed against each other Keefe placed his hands on her bump and moved them to her hips, smiling down at her with some sort of mischievous, but loving or adoring glint in his ice eyes.

Before Sophie knew it, they were both swaying to the music, a flush of color blossoming on her cheeks at the romantic gesture.

He bent his head down and pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes flickering to her lips and back into her eyes, which fluttered closed after a smile painted her plush lips.

His own smile remained on his face as the music continued, a surge of love rushing through him as he tenderly kissed her forehead.

Now this? Little moments like these? It was what he lived for.

He loved holding her in his arms, kissing her, teasing her, touching her, watching her do the most bland things and somehow turning them into graceful, eye catching events.

He loved her with all his heart and he couldn't imagine what would have happened if she hadn't reciprocated his feelings and they hadn't become a thing. He didn't know where he'd be if he hadn't gotten to marry her, call her his, wake up next to her, live and thrive hand-in-hand with her, watch her be brilliant and independent, yet watch her depend and love and run back to him of all people, have a baby with her. . .

A little baby that was going to grow up to be as amazing as their mother. A little baby who was going to love and even, in ways, depend on him and Sophie for the rest of their life. A little baby who would grow up to fight and love and take risks. A little baby who would grow up and have their own family.

Before Keefe knew it, the song was over and Sophie had drapped her arms over his shoulders, wrapping them around his neck as they still silently swayed. She played with the hair at the nape of his neck, her breath hot and warm on his cheeks and lips.

"I love you," he whispered.

And her eyes opened, a abyss of honey brown surrounded by dark, long eyelashes that brushed against her cheekbones. Her nose and cheeks were dotted with light freckles, spread out like little constellations.

"I love you, too," she promised.


	10. Chapter 10

Keefe knew something was up the moment when he felt stabbing pain near his abdomen and heard a female suck in a sharp breath from the baby's room.

He dropped what he was doing—quite literally, because his papers fluttered to the floor and his Imparter crashed without a second thought—and he was sprinting down the hallway.

He nearly tripped a couple to times as he shouted her name twice, arriving upon the doorway and bolting inside.

His eyes followed the pained cries echoing through the room to where Sophie was squatted down to the ground, gripping a chair still covered in plastic. Her eyes were squeezed shut in pain and her jaw was clenched tight. A little whimper escaped her lips and Keefe strode up to her, getting down next to her.

"What happened? Are you okay?" he asked frantically, worry seeping into his voice. He placed a hand on his pregnant wife's back, and the contact gave him a heavier rush of the pain she was feeling, drop-kicking him in the stomach like a bone-crushing punch to the gut. He winced, knowing this was only a light fraction of what she experiencing.

"Mhm," she whimpered, answering his question, keeping her eyes closed. The answer definitely wasn't convincing, but he didn't know what else to do for her, so he sat close and rubbed her back in silence.

After two full minutes of watching her writhe, he asked, "Do you need a doctor or something? It's way too early for you to be going into labor, so it's not that—thank god. But, this doesn't look too good."

"They're called Braxton Hicks contractions," she explained. "You can even call them 'practice contractions.' It's just my body moving around the baby. You can start experiencing them when you're six weeks pregnant, but you won't feel them, even if they're there. Most women don't even feel them, but a few do. The mom will start feeling them once they start show—if they're one of the few who can feel them, like me."

She chuckled, but it sounded weak and strained. "Yay for me, right? I'm _so_ lucky."

Keefe wanted to point out that elves weren't supposed to feel anything bad during labor, and Sophie must have known he was going to, because she added, "Elwin said that I—obviously —won't feel the contractions while I'm actually having the baby. And as I said before, these are just early ones that adjust the baby and even my own body."

She shuddered and grit her teeth as another wave of pain overcame her. "I'm f-fine," she grunted.

"You don't look fine," Keefe pointed out sadly, brushing a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, bending over and peppering her jawline with kisses.

"Mm," she mumbled, a little smile twitching in her lips when he pulled away. She was still clearly in pain as her eyebrows were pressed together and her eyes stayed clenched shut, but her smile indicated she appreciated the affectionate gestures from her husband.

"Distract me," she pled after another moan of pain. "Please. . . just t-talk about something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. B-baby names," she offered shakily, shifting around a little.

Keefe blinked, coming to realize he hasn't yet discussed any with her yet. Part of him was tempted to make a few joke-names to see if it would make her smile or something, but he doubted that would happen. It would probably only make her annoyed, so he stuck with giving actual name ideas.

"Uhh, okay, let's think about this. Well, for boys names, uhhh. . ." He cringed, trying his best to think of something. It was surprisingly difficult to just spout off decent names, on-the-spot. "Davy, Luca, Salvatore—or, for short, Sal—, Alaric, Hans, Atlas, Julian, Damon, Poe, Caspian—"

Sophie let out a little giggle and Keefe rose an eyebrow. "What's funny?" he asked, perplexed and curious.

She cleared her throat, sombering when stabbing needles pain hit a sensitive spot. "Human movie. Prince Caspian was the guys' name. Anyway, _please_ keep going."

He nodded. "I guess I'll switch to girls. Um, there's Amethyst, Arwen, Elowen, Clio, Fable, Eden, Lyra, Fawn, Twila, Coraline, Reverie, Venus, Novalee. . ."

He paused when he felt the tight coil in her stomach start to loosen, and the muscles in her back untensed. She blew out a grateful, shaking breath as the pain subsided. "There we go," she cooed, rubbing her tummy.

"It's been happening every 20-30 minutes today," Sophie admitted. "But Elwin told me it was normal. And, it shouldn't happen everyday, so it's not like from-now-on this will keep happening."

"I'm guessing that means he made you a house call today?"

"Yeah," she agreed.

For once, Keefe didn't feel like teasing her for a doctor coming to the house for one of her medical emergencies. That had _hurt_ and he couldn't blame her for calling a medical professional. In fact, it had been very smart.

"This has been happening all day while I've been gone?" he questioned, standing up and outstretched both his hands. Her hands reached up and clasped with his, and he helped pull her to her feet.

"Ehm, no, not really. It only started a few hours before you came back, just a little bit ago." She hummed in thought. "When did you get back home?"

"Half an hour ago," he reminded.

"Ah, yeah. They only started an hour or two before that." She was still tenderly rubbing her belly, peering around at the still-unfinished room. Keefe had gotten to help her with a few things, but she had gotten most of everything done.

She knew she was very capable of doing everything in her own, but he still felt bad that most of the work has been done by her. Especially when she was feeling so sickly.

"Well, I've got some stuff to do," she sighed, walking up to him. She placed her hands on his chest, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him sweetly. Keefe cupped her face in his hands, kissing her back and making sure his lips were pressed firmly to hers.

She giggled against his mouth, twisting her lips away and leaning back a little, her eyes twinkling. "You kiss me like it's the last time you ever will," she teased.

"Hey, knowing you, I want to be prepared," he joked. She rolled her brown eyes and he chuckled, stroking her cheek. He bent over and kissed her one more time and when he pulled back, she said, " _You_ also have work to do, you know."

"Ugh, don't remind me. How about we just fall asleep on the couch?"

She laughed. "I'll do that if I get to eat. I'm hungry."

He rose a brow. "Want me to order a pizza?"

"Adda boy!"

* * *

 **a/n:** **vote for the gender! simply comment/review with what you want to vote for!**

* * *

-→ **boy** _ **!** _←-

-→ **girl** _ **!** _←-

* * *

 **also vote for the names!**

 **vote for both a boy _and_ a girl name, _regardless_ of what gender you're voting for!**

* * *

 **girls _!_**

-→ **novalee (nickname: nova)** ←-

-→ **venus (nickname: vennie)** ←-

-→ **clio** ←-

-→ **fawn** ←-

-→ **amethyst** ←-

 **• • • • • • •**

 **boys _!_**

-→ **julian (nickname: jules)** ←-

-→ **damon** ←-

-→ **flynn** ←-

-→ **sawyer** ←-

-→ **xavier (nickname: xavi)** ←-


	11. Chapter 11

**a/n: the song "crazy beautiful" by andy grammar perfectly describes sophie and keefe's relationship! it's super cute! please listen!**

 **(also, "crazy girl" by the eli young band, and "wanted" by hunter hayes! they're all super cute songs!)**

* * *

"Hey, Foster—"

Keefe heard the scuffle even before he looked up to see Sophie with her eyes closed, a hand pressed to her forehead, lightly massaging it. She placed down the piping bag she had been using to squirt strawberry icing into a tray of cupcakes with, and by the emotions rippling through the air at him, she was a little irritated.

He laughed. "I did it again, didn't I?" he grinned, setting down the papers in his hand onto the granite island in the middle of their large kitchen.

"Yes, yes you did." A smile tugged on her lips as she said it, though, so he knew that she wasn't too angry or anything.

He peered at the cupcakes, fighting to make no stomach not growl from the enticing scent and even more delicious-looking sight of the baked goods. "What are these for?"

She smirked. "You're not gonna like it if I tell you."

He reached over the granite countertop and the cupcakes, wiping a piece of frosting off from the tip of Sophie's nose with his thumb. Her mouth taped open a little, as she had clearly not been aware of the pink blob on her nose.

With a smile on his face, he licked the sweet icing off his thumb, and she rolled her eyes at the teasing glint in his own orbs.

"Okay, so it's a _little_ messy and I'll admit I don't know how I managed to get _that_ on my face, but these look pretty darn nice." She opened her arms, gesturing to the tray in front of her.

"And I completely agree," he promise, with a bob of his head. "But you never told me what all this is for."

He took the time to also point to five silver tins on the counter, and a few other gold ones. Keefe knew from experience that Sophie baked little treats for her friends once in awhile, but this was exceeding her usual limit.

"Silver are for our friends, gold is for the parents. And, if you _must_ know, it's for the Christmas Party." She pointed to the blizzard raging outside the window.

He mentally facepalmed himself. How could he forget about that so easily?

Keefe placed his hands in his pockets and blew out a breath. "Right. That's. . . Less than a week away," he remebered.

"And little baby bump is comin' along with us," she added, her lips pursed in a smile as her teasing eyes flickered up to him, getting back to putting the frosting on the cupcakes. "Want to help me decorate the cupcakes?"

"Sure thing," he agreed, hoping it would help him take his mind off the impending doom he was imaging. But Sophie had taken the time to assure him over and over that telling their family about the baby was going to be absolutely great.

He grabbed the extra piping bag and began filling it with the pink-coloured icing and glanced to her, his lopsided grin back on his face. "You know, I can't promise there will be any cupcakes left if I help you out."

She snorted out a laugh. "If anyone's eating all these cupcakes, it's me. So, hands off."

"Fair enough," he replied, smirking. He filled the piping bag and twisted the end of it closed, getting started on swirling the icing onto the treats.

Sophie elbowed him in his side lightly. "How do you think they'll all react?" she asked, new-found softness in her tone.

Keefe purses his hips, perfecting the cupcake he was working on. "Good question. But, if Biana hasn't already figured it out, I'd guess there's going to be a whole lot of screaming involved."

Sophie burst into giggles. "The greatest part about that, is that it's so true."

"What about Captain Cognate?" Keefe asked.

"Aw, that's actually a good question. Of course he'll be happy for us—and I can assure you there won't be any screaming involved—but I don't think I can guess his actual reaction."

"Linh?" Keefe offered, moving on to the next person.

"She'll probably silently gush. You know how quiet and reserved she is—it's absolutely adorable."

"Not as adorable as you," he countered, flicking a blob of frosting back onto the blonde's nose.

"Hey!" she protested as he wiped it off and licked it from his thumb, for the second time.

She rose an accusing eyebrow and popped a hand in her hip. "I'm beginning to suspect you're going to continue to do that just as an excuse to get free frosting."

"Mhm," he agreed cheekily.

He chuckled when she shook her head in dissaproval, or playful disappointment. "I can put it on your mouth, if you want. . ." he suggested playfully, reaching over and lifting her chin with his finger.

" _No_ ," she said, pushing his hand away. "You cannot and will not."

But she was holding back a smile, clearly amused by his teasing.

"You're cute," he complimented, picking up a cupcake and setting down the piping bag. Sophie opened her mouth to say something when Keefe took a bite out of the naked good and Sophie looked at him in horror, completely slack-jawed.

Keefe had to keep from laughing in order to not choke on the cupcake. He swallowed the food, shrugging innocently. "I had to butter you up a little before I took the food."

* * *

 **a/n: i just made a sophie foster playlist on my spotify, if any of you want to check that out!**

 **my spotify username is "projectmoonlark" and the playlist is named "sophie foster | kotlc ".**


	12. Chapter 12

**r. r**

 **wow—i keep forgetting to do these!**

* * *

 **FlowerGirl15 (chapter 9 , jul 30);** _awww, thank you so much! and i do ship foster-keefe/sokeefe/keefoster, but i also ship sophitz. i'm a multi-shipper, haha! :)_

 **FlowerGirl15 (chapter 10 , jul 31, 4:00 p.m);** _thank you for voting! so far there are 8 votes for a girl, and 6 votes for a boy!_

 _for boy names, there is 1 for julian and flynn. then there are 2 for damon and xavier, and there are 4 for sawyer._

 _for girl names, there is 1 for clio and fawn. there are 3 for amethyst, and there are 6 for novalee._

 **Foxfire161;** _thank you for voting! so far there are 8 votes for a girl, and 6 votes for a boy!_

 _for boy names, there is 1 for julian and flynn. then there are 2 for damon and xavier, and there are 4 for sawyer._

 _for girl names, there is 1 for clio and fawn. there are 3 for amethyst, and there are 6 for novalee._

 **Guest** + **Guest;** _thank you for voting! so far there are 8 votes for a girl, and 6 votes for a boy!_

 _for boy names, there is 1 for julian and flynn. then there are 2 for damon and xavier, and there are 4 for sawyer._

 _for girl names, there is 1 for clio and fawn. there are 3 for amethyst, and there are 6 for novalee._

 **bookboysarebetter;** _thank you for voting! so far there are 8 votes for a girl, and 6 votes for a boy!_

 _for boy names, there is 1 for julian and flynn. then there are 2 for damon and xavier, and there are 4 for sawyer._

 _for girl names, there is 1 for clio and fawn. there are 3 for amethyst, and there are 6 for novalee._

 **PeriwinkleLuv9 (chapter 10);** _thank you for voting! so far there are 8 votes for a girl, and 6 votes for a boy!_

 _for boy names, there is 1 for julian and flynn. then there are 2 for damon and xavier, and there are 4 for sawyer._

 _for girl names, there is 1 for clio and fawn. there are 3 for amethyst, and there are 6 for novalee._

 _and, haha, your demon comment made me laugh, lol. i guess i never realized that!_

 **PeriwinkleLuv9 (chapter 11);** _i hope you like the reveal chapter, too! :)_

 **MiraculousNikki;** _thank you for voting! i really, really like your idea for twins!_

 _so far there are 8 votes for a girl, and 6 votes for a boy!_

 _for boy names, there is 1 for julian and flynn. then there are 2 for damon and xavier, and there are 4 for sawyer._

 _for girl names, there is 1 for clio and fawn. there are 3 for amethyst, and there are 6 for novalee._

 **Cressida123 (chapter 10);** _aw, well, i'm very glad to hear you enjoy reviewing in your own! i love reading your feedback!_

 _and, yes, i actually did take your suggestion!_

 _thank you so much, love! :3_

 _aaaannnnnd... (since i've been placing this in a review for each person who voted)_

 _thank you for voting! so far there are 8 votes for a girl, and 6 votes for a boy!_

 _for boy names, there is 1 for julian and flynn. then there are 2 for damon and xavier, and there are 4 for sawyer._

 _for girl names, there is 1 for clio and fawn. there are 3 for amethyst, and there are 6 for novalee._

* * *

Keefe made sure all the tins of ripplepuffs and the plastic container of cupcakes got stacked into the cloth/fabric bag—that reminded Keefe a little of a diaper bag—that Sophie had requested he set them in. It wasn't bulky or heavy, so they could easily carry the baked goods with them to the party, in it.

Keefe was done getting ready for the party himself, and felt he looked decent, but he still found himself fussing with his hair or shirt every once in few minutes. Was he trying too hard? Was it too over-the-top to get all dressy?

Sophie had informed him that she liked what he was wearing and thought it was good for the occasion. Keefe couldn't really disagree when he thought about it, because he didn't exactly want to show up in sweatpants and a christmas sweater to the party and lazily announce, "Hey, while you guys have been sitting around for months, Sophie's been cooking a bun in her oven! Surprise!"

The more that he thought about it, everybody always showed up to the party in nice, formal clothes, but by the end of the night they all would tug out some christmas-themed pajamas they had brought along and open up presents or watch a movie. Then they'd all proceed to crash for the night at the house where the party was held.

Keefe made sure all the tins and containers were arranged in the bag so that they wouldn't flop around, blowing out an anxious breath as he thought over the plethora of reactions Foster and him could receive at the party.

He'd been running over what to say if anyone asked him any questions for _days_ , trying to convince himself that everybody would be happy, they'd mostly be focused on Sophie and would not ask him a ton of stuff, and that they wouldn't doubt his ability as a father.

The last one still lodged a lump in his throat whenever he thought about the judgement he could receive. It wasn't that he was afraid of being judged or told others' opinions, he was just afraid that they would turn out to be true. Maybe their assumptions and opinions would twist into reality.

His father's abusive words and tactics crept back into the recess of his mind, constantly nagging and clawing and tearing at his memories, constantly reminding him of every little thing. Every time his father didn't seem to know or care that he was hurting his own son.

Keefe's palms started to sweat at the thought of him doing that to his own kids, to his Foster. He loved her and he couldn't possibly do that to her. . . Could he? _Would_ he?

"Babe," Sophie called, walking down the stairs, "I got our pajamas together, because I'm pretty sure it's just a thing, now, that we spend the night every year."

Keefe glanced over to his wife waddling down the stairs as best as she could in her fairly low black heels. She held onto the railing, but there was still some essence of her that made her appear like a graceful, totally not accident-prone model.

While Sophie may not have been graceful with her footing in reality, she _was_ 100% a model: even without her making any effort. Especially right then.

She wore a slim, tight-fitting black dress (the material actually looking quite soft and comfortable) that clung to her form and showed off the swell of her womanly curves. Her average-shaped bust (which, he noticed, had grown since she had first become pregnant. . . he wasn't a pervert, he was just observant), her thick hips, and even her adorable swollen stomach looked flattering on her.

The also body-clinging sleeves went down to her wrists and the bottom half off the dress stopped a little above mid-thigh. She had no jewelry on, except for her usual panic switch and Cognate rings—which she never seemed to take off, for old times' sake—and her plush lips were painted a soft red. Her hair hung in loose, wavy strands that cascaded down, and Keefe was surprised to see her hair had started to grow out past her shoulders.

She approached him as quickly as her pregnant body would allow, holding the folded pajamas in her arms. She rose an elegantly arched eyebrow, noticing his look. ". . .Whatcha staring at?"

"You, evidently. Hey, can you do the world a favor and _not_ look so pretty while you're pregnant?"

She blushed, her cheeks rosy. "I'm a mess, though," she mumbled in protest, clearly flustered.

"You're glowing, you idiot," he teased.

"Uh-huh, okay," she said, brushing it off and denying it like she always did. If her hands weren't occupied with the pajamas, she would have tried to hide behind her hair.

She set the clothes into the bag on top of the containers of food and slung it onto her shoulder, much to Keefe's dismay.

"I can carry that, you know," he offered, holding out his empty arms and hands.

"Nope," she replied, "I can carry things myself."

"You're being stubborn. Plus, if we leap to the party and you arrive pregnant and carry everything, it's going to make me look like an a—"

Her lips formed into a tentative smirk and her eyebrow rose. "Keefe," she chuckled, "we discussed this yesterday. I'm not leaping there with a baby. But, by all means, if you want to leap—go ahead."

The conversation from the other day replayed in his head. Sophie had expressed her concern about light-leaping with the baby, and he couldn't blame her with how many times she'd almost faded away. And he had to admit that it was a little more risky to light-leap of pregnant.

He was very glad that the snow had let up, and he hoped it was the same at Havenfield. They'd just have to wear a coat or regulate their body temperatures.

He nodded slowly at the reminder. "Riiight. I _may_ or may not have forgotten about that." He turned back and looked at the clock. "So, _that_ is why we are leaving super early."

"Indeed," she laughed.

"And in that case," he said, taking the bag from her arm against her protesting, "is why I am carrying this."

"Hey! I can carry that just fine!" she shouted as he started to walk towards the door.

"You know you love me! Don't forget that!" he yelled back, glancing behind and watching Sophie pout.

He chuckled as she rolled her eyes and tried to get in-tow behind him, but her body didn't allow her to move all too fast. "You'll thank me later," he promised, putting an arm around her and tugging her into his side. He bent over and pecked a kiss to her head.

"I'm also going to regret wearing these heals," she pointed out as she almost tripped when she pulled away from his side-hug. "Even if they are low."

They walked out of the house and locked the door, leaving their hands together. His lips pulled into a smile.

"I know you'll get through it, you little warrior," he teased.

She made a grunt of disapproval. "You're so corny."

"But you still love me!" he reminded giddily.

"Yes," she answered softly, after a few seconds of silence. "I do."

They shared a smile.

* * *

"I think I'm going to die," Sophie moaned, resting her hand in between the natural nook of her body, settled right in the little dip underneath her breasts and at the start of her bump.

Luckily, though, they could both see Havenfield clearly in the distance and they had already reached the dirt path that would lead them to the house.

The sky was dark now, the very last sliver of sun had sunk away and was lost from view. He peered at the balefire pendant hanging from her neck that was grazing her swollen abdomen.

Keefe had to give it to her—she'd been walking for a _long_ time without complaining.

"Good thing we chose to live near Havenfield," he said.

"And a good thing the party is actually held at Havenfield this year," she added. "You know how Alden and Della, and my parents like to fight over where the party will be each year."

Keefe laughed at that, knowing how it was legitimately an issue. "Personally, I find that pretty amazing. They're each _very_ determined to host, so, I'll give them that."

"Maybe all of us should start hosting," Sophie suggested, referring to them and their friends. "We _do_ all have our own houses."

"Then we'd _all_ be fighting over who would host each year," Keefe said. "We can call it, 'The Host Wars.' "

Sophie snorted. "Remind me why I married you, again?"

"'Cause you _loooove_ me."

She shook her blonde head, her curls swishing around on her back and shoulders. Keefe watched her walking and suddenly let out a laugh.

She looked at him with absolute confusion. "What's so funny?"

"It's not funny, it's cute. You're. . . Waddling."

"Oh yeah?" she started to defend, "how about we try giving _you_ an extra large bump and see how you try and walk around normally?"

"I'm only teasing you, you know," he chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah."

They were growing increasingly closer and had almost arrived upon the doors of the gleaming house—and were very glad to find that Havenfield has warmed up and that most of the show had unexpectedly melted—when they noticed some figures outside of the house. Against a side on Havenfield, there were a few people on a stone patio, chattering and completely unaware of Sophie and Keefe.

Sophie put out the balefire as they were close enough that they could see from the light of the lights at the patio.

They had to walk through the grass to get to the patio, not wanting to go along the lit-up path and be seen from far away.

 _How long do you think it'll take them to notice, when we get over there?_ , Sophie asked, opening Keefe's thoughts to her own for a second.

His mind let out a soft breeze of laughter. _Um, they'll notice immediately._

Linh turned as if on cue, her elegant, loose, flowy dress swishing at her knees. Sophie and Keefe watched her mouth move as she tapped Biana's shoulder, and from what they could hear, she was trying to announce their presence.

Sophie laughed as Biana took the information and shouted it to everyone else on the patio, then proceeded to wave her hand around, signalling for them to get over there.

"Hurry up, guys!" she called.

"We didn't even see you, where did you come from?!" Dex added.

"You're so slow!" Biana whined.

Keefe squeezed Sophie's hand as the light began to slowly show their forms. "I've gotta wait for Miss. Slow-Poke over here!"

"Alright," Sophie began, as they reached the patio and the light fully flooded over their bodies. Biana's—and surprisingly few other people's—(including Fitz' and Tam's) jaws dropped and Keefe held back his smile as Sophie released his hand. She poked a finger into his chest playfully.

"Let's see _you_ try and walk with _this_ and be fast. I can tell you right now, it won't work out too well for you."

"That's not what I think it is, right?" Tam asked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

Sophie's hand still rested in the little dip on top of her bump, so everyone could clearly see it wasn't a trick of the light.

Biana was practically bouncing in her joy as she ran up to her and didn't even bother setting her glass down, hugging Sophie.

Sophie let out a little, "oof," as she struggled to stay upright from the crushing hug.

"Not an _it_ , a _they!"_ she answered Tam excitedly. Biana stepped back from the hug. "You have a _baby!"_ she squealed.

Sophie's cheeks flushed at how happy Biana was for her, when the brunette suddenly took in Sophie's appearance. "And, also, _geez_ —save some pretty for the rest of us!"

Keefe snickered behind the now-red-faced blonde, sporting a slightly smug, _I told you so_ , face.

The following minutes followed with a _lot_ of cooeing (surpsingly, a lot of thr cooeing was from Linh) and congratulations, and Della even promising to spoil the kid once they came along.

"We're _all_ spoiling this child," Biana agreed giddily, the huge grin still upon her face as she jumped up and down a little. "Can I be an honorary aunt?! Pleeeaase?"

"How would _that_ work?" Fitz countered.

Sophie chuckled. "You know, whatever you want, Biana."

"Yes!" she celebrated. "I call babysitting first! You're gonna need it at some point, and I call first!"

"Biana, I think you're more excited for this than I am," Sophie pointed out, a little overwhelmed by her pure joy.

"Well, it's a _BABY!"_

The whole patio erupted into laughter and when it finallycleared, Sophie searched around the patio with her eyes. "Where's Mom and Dad?"

"Inside with Alden, I believe," Della smiled, looking radiant as always with her hair swept back and held by little pearl pins.

"Edaline is making some food," Dex explained.

"We have absolutely no clue what the heck Alden and Grady are doing, though," Tam answered honestly, causing a few giggles here and there.

"I think they're putting all the presents together," Fitz said.

"Oh my gosh, I _need_ to get a present for your baby," Biana said, like it was the end of the world. "Like, now."

"Like, _no_ ," Sophie corrected playfully, grabbing her wrist before she could walk off to get her home pendant. "How about you come inside and help me find my mom and dad? And, hey, even Alden."

Biana's eyes lit up. "Ooh! The big reveal! Well, what are you waiting for?!"

Biana started ushering her off the patio, clearly in a rush to go and tell the last three adults. She noticed no one else was following. "Well, get over here!" she called. "We can't wait all day!"

"You didn't even get the food I made for you guys," she laughed as Biana took her hand to help her with her balance. Sophie peeked back a glance and saw Keefe set down the bag on a table in the patio.

Fitz approached him and Sophie could see his lips move into a, "Hey, man, congratulations," which made her smile.

She'd been in a past relationship with Fitz _many_ years ago that had been bound for a crash—and crash, they did—but she was so happy to know that they'd mended the broken sail and that it hasn't affected their friendship. She didn't know what her or Keefe would do without him in their lives.

"As much as I love your baking, we're doing that later," Biana said, drawing Sophie from her thoughts.

The brunette squeezed her hand. "Oooh, I'm so excited!" she squealed, happiness radiating off of her. She was so bubbly that Sophie didn't know how to properly respond.

They all walked into the house, Sophie waiting patiently for everyone to enter, close the door, and take off their shoes before letting Biana take her hand and lead her around. The rest of them trailed a little behind in a bubble, trying not to crowd Sophie, which she was thankful for.

She also knew they were trailing behind in hope of seeing the newest reactions to the baby.

"Mom! Dad!" Sophie called, as soon as Biana told her that that might help.

 _"_ _Daaaaad!"_ Biana added, calling for Alden. "Grady! Edaline! Sophie is here!"

"I'm in the kitchen, Sophie!" Edaline shouted. "Also elbow-deep in ingredients such as flour, so let me wash my hands before you run in and try to hug me!"

Sophie and a few others chuckled, then she started for the kitchen with Biana happily waving for her to walk in first, but that the rest of the group would be right behind.

She leisurely took her time to gracefully stride into the room, both hands on her swollen stomach. Edaline wasn't facing her, washing off her hands on the sink.

There was a vast assortment of ingredients and cooking utensils in a contained, tidy space on the counter and Sophie straightened her postures causing her belly to stick out as far as it naturally could.

"Mom," Sophie called, silently asking for her to turn around. The rest of the group stood behind her, watching in silent anticipation for Edaline to look behind her.

Keefe placed a hand in Sophie's shoulder, smiling down at her proudly.

"Yeah, I'm getting to it," Edaline joked, turning around and drying her hands on a towel. "Hi, honey. How—"

Everyone held their breath, biting the inside of their cheeks to keep from smiling. Biana and Della did absolutely nothing to attempt to hide their own.

Edaline's face _was_ priceless.

Sophie bit her lip as Edaline's eyes welled up and she covered her mouth, approaching her daughter.

"Oh, Mom, don't cry," Sophie comforted. Edaline walked up and put on arm around Keefe and the other around Sophie pulling both of them in for a hug. There were a rather lot of 'aww's from the crowd watching the heart-warming spectacle.

Grady and Alden, with perfect timing, could be heard coming down the stairs and walking to the kitchen. Edaline was whispering a plethora of questions to Sophie and Keefe, asking them how they had been, if they knew the gender, if Sophie had yet to have any cravings, and tons of other random stuff. She was obviously very excited, but it was more contained than Biana.

"Hey, Grandpa!" Sophie shouted, causing a few fits of giggles.

Grady and Alden were conversing about some random, stupid thing the Council had decided upon (and Sophie just wasn't surprised anymore) before Sophie had called for her dad with the confusing name.

Taking it as a insult-joke, Grady began to say, "I am _not_ a Grandpa, and—"

Alden and Grady were very clearly shocked and confused at the fact that they were all gathered in the kitchen when they entered the space that was growing more cramped with each body that tried to file into the room.

However, just like Edaline, it didn't take long for the two to look over and lay their blue eyes on the very-pregnant Sophie.

Sophie's adoptive mother had her in a side hug that still managed to have both arms involved, but the fact that their daughter was carrying a child was not a secret at all.

"Well, _now_ you're a grandpa," Sophie teased, "but I could just call you grandma, if you want."

Keefe contained his laugh and tenderly rubbed his wife's arm, too afraid to interrupt the hug-moment that was still happening between Edaline and Sophie.

Edaline finally released her after one final squeeze and a kiss to the head, letting Grady slowly approach her in awe. Sophie giggled and put her hands to her mouth, trying to cover her smile/quivering lips as her eyes filled with tears at how choked-up Grady was getting.

He was clearly on the verge of crying himself, his own blue eyes blurry with tears.

"Hi, Dad," she whispered, sniffling a little. She laughed when he crushed her in a hug, the rest of the room clearly lost to their own tears and sniffling over the spectacle.

Grady held onto Sophie for awhile, blinking back his tears and then calling Edaline and Keefe over.

And as Sophie held onto Keefe's hand in the middle of the emotional group hug, her face held the best, most adorable, _I told you so_ , while in the world.

She was right and she had told him so.

Telling everyone? It had been just fine.

* * *

 **a/n: i am writing this while in _immense_ pain. someone give me an award.**


	13. Chapter 13

**a/n: i _may_ or may not have made a sokeefe and a general kotlc playlist on my spotify...**

 **and i _may_ or may not _also_ be working on a sophitz one...**

 **— sophie**

* * *

 **r.r**

 **PeriwinkleLuv9** ; _thank you, love! i'm super happy that you're enjoying the story and everything so far!_

 _and i do have to say that my favorite part was writing that "grandpa" comment, aha. :)_

 **BlackSwanGirl** ; _THANK YOU SO MUCH I REALLY APPRECIATE IT! :3_

 _annnnnd i'm in pain because_ _i have really bad menstrual cramps that run in my family. i was literally writhing around in pain for hours and i didn't get to sleep until i took a sedative. these cramps have actually hospitalized people like my mom and grandma, because they are reeaaally bad._

 **Someone** ; _i have really bad menstrual cramps that run in my family. i was literally writhing around in pain for hours and i didn't get to sleep until i took a sedative. these cramps have actually hospitalized people like my mom and grandma, because they are reeaaally bad._

 **booksaremylife** ; _awwww, thank you so very much! words cannot express how happy i am that you enjoy this story, even with all of the auto correct situations, lol!_

 _as to why i'm in pain, (if you haven't already seen the same explanation that i've copy and paste for everybody else who reviewed and asked, haha) i have really bad menstrual cramps that run in my family. i was literally writhing around in pain for hours and i didn't get to sleep until i took a sedative. these cramps have actually hospitalized people like my mom and grandma, because they are reeaaally bad._

 **FlowerGirl15** ; _first up; THANK YOU SO MUCH! x)_

 _second up; i have really bad menstrual cramps that run in my family. i was literally writhing around in pain for hours and i didn't get to sleep until i took a sedative. these cramps have actually hospitalized people like my mom and grandma, because they are reeaaally bad._

* * *

Sophie emerged from the bathroom in her old room on the third floor of Havenfield, carrying her black dress in her arms. She had slipped into comfy gray sweatpants and a warm, soft black sweatshirt that hugged her body just right.

It had been a couple hours of everyone fawning over her and the baby, and she was managing to get a little exhausted with all the cooeing and questions.

She _loved_ her family and was very glad that they were all happy for her and Keefe, but if they knew about the Braxton Hicks and the morning sickness and the back pain and the restless nights, they'd all reconsider saying that pregnancy was such a cute thing.

Though, she did have to say that she could see a bit of sympathy in Della and Edaline's eyes.

Sophie closed the bathroom door and set her folded dress on the floor, vowing to remember to come and get it in the morning, or later on that night before they fell asleep. Maybe she could even have Edaline conjure it back to Duskvale.

Sophie nearly jumped out of her own skin when she noticed the silhouette of a person sitting in her canopied bed, staring directly at her. Her heart started to calm when, in the dim light of the pink nightlight on her dresser, she saw a familiar, warming smile.

She paused her music, letting it rest in her sweatshirt pocket that went all the way across her belly. "You scared me," she said breathlessly, exasperated. She held a hand to her heart, feeling the pounding and knowing that she was still alive and there and okay.

Carrying a child had been a scary responsibility for Sophie to attempt to understand all on its own, but adding in her traumatizing past with the rebel group that used everything in their power to try and control her, her life, her friends' lives. . . The group that had mercilessly slaughtered people she adored and loved; people she looked up to?

Now _that_ haunted her dreams and everyday life. Even though they were gone, there was some tickling, ghost itch that made her feel like they could just come through the shadows and take away her. And losing herself would mean losing her unborn child.

Keefe chuckled, drawing her from her nightmare-ish thoughts. "That was unintentional, but I _did_ have to get back at you _sometime_ for all those times you've freaked me out these last few weeks. Do you even _know_ how many times you managed to disappear on me and give me a heart attack?"

"You know, I would have been just fine with a 'sorry,' not your excuse as to why scaring me was okay."

He laughed, opening up his arms. "C'mere, hun."

She didn't protest, crossing her arms over her chest and waddling in front of him. "What do you want me to do?" she asked, confusion laced into her words when he didn't get up and give her a hug, like she had thought he was going to.

He patted his lap. "Sit."

"Uh-uh," she decided, shaking her blonde curls. "That's not happening. You want a hug, you're getting up."

"C'mere," he pled again, letting out a little chuckle at her stubbornness as he beckoned her with his arms.

"No," she repeated, flatly.

Keefe frowned, but didn't put down his arms, starting to wonder why she was denying. Something weird was radiating off of her, some feeling he couldn't place. It wasn't a concrete, simple emotion to just decipher like someone being happy or sad or angry—this was weird and complex. A mixture of something he couldn't place his finger on.

"I'm heavy," she finally said, and he could finally place what she was feeling. It was a little dash of insecurity, but it was hot and ugly and it was there. And it was making her nervous to get in his arms and it was making her feel bad.

"Oh," he said softly, sadness seeping into his voice, "babe. . ." He grabbed her hands, trying to reassure her. "You _are_ heavy, but being heavy isn't _bad_. I promise. Come here, please?"

He tugged on her hands, staring her directly in the eyes so that she knew he meant it. She blinked, her cheeks blossoming with colour at the intensity of his adoring gaze and the warmth of his calloused hands holding hers. She was glad that they were in dim, pink lighting.

She stood in front of him and he placed his hands on her hips as her own went to his shoulders, and he helped her hoist both knees on either side of him. Her knees hugged both sides of his hips, so that she was basically straddling his lap (which made her blush even more at the very close, intimate position). Her soft, golden waterfall strands hung down in wisps and tickled his face as she studied his face.

He nuzzled her nose with his and placed both hands on her lower back, his stomach erupting in surprise butterflies at that feel of Sophie's belly pressed up against the planes of his own stomach.

"Think the baby can kick, yet?" he asked, reaching up a brushing one of the many loose strands of her hair behind her ear, tenderly. His breath was hot on her cheeks, lips, and nose and a surge of electricity shot through her veins.

She really wanted to kiss him.

She didn't know what had initiated the sudden spur of a desire, but staring down at him in the dark, his intoxicating scent of spice and rain—a mischievous combination that only he could smell like—swirling through the air and making her feel dizzy, the pressure of his hands holding her back. . .

She chewed on her lower lip, trying to gain control of herself. Where had that want even come from? It was urgent and sudden, but she wasn't going to humiliate herself by giving into what the twisted hormones wanted.

"I'm not sure," she answered. "How many weeks ago did I have that ultrasound?"

"Four to five weeks ago," he replied. "And that was the twelve week ultrasound, so you should be around sixteen to seventeen weeks in. Which means. . ."

"We _may_ be able to feel the baby kick," she finished as he waggled an eyebrow. "But, that's if we get lucky. Some mom's don't feel anything until twenty-five weeks. And I haven't felt anything."

"Sometimes a baby will only kick when startled or prodded. You saw on the ultrasound how the baby moved when Dr. Mercado pressed her fingers on your stomach, so don't even try to shake your head at me."

She stopped swaying her head back and forth in a 'no' movement and smiled. "Alright, fine. But seriously stop getting my hopes up."

"I can help you take your mind off of that if you really need me to. . ." he said playfully, some sort of heat in his eyes and some variable in the even, low tone of his voice that made her want to shiver.

"Nope," she said cooly, knowing where he was headed. She was about to open her mouth to say more, but Keefe had already craned his head up and captured her mouth in a kiss. She was completely caught off-guard, sucking in a sharp breath at the way her pulse skyrocketed and how the world seemed to spin off its axis.

It was magic, the way his mouth coaxed her own to kiss him back, the way their soft lips melded together. There was some kind of heat pooling and dancing in her body as she wrapped her arms around his neck, letting herself enjoy the moment alone.

She enjoyed moments like these way more than she ever wanted to admit to anyone—especially him, because she knew he'd tease her relentlessly about it. And currently, she didn't care that he could feel the swirling butterflies in her stomach or the fog clouding over her senses.

A little voice in the back of her head was worried that someone would walk in on the intimate, private moment, but another part of her didn't care.

Keefe pulled away, much to her dismay, and Sophie blinked at him, surprised at how much she had been affected by the simple kiss.

Keefe cupped her face in his hands, giving a breathless laugh. "Sophie, you're shivering. . ." he said softly, kissing her again.

"Hormones. . ." she whispered. And it wasn't really a lie. Everytime she inhaled his scent she felt some sort of heat ripple travel through her body.

He had some of grin on his face that made her roll her eyes and he laughed. "Alright, get up for a second. We're gonna make our baby kick!"

That made her laugh, and she stood like he asked, tugging lightly on the two laces of her sweatshirt that made the hood pull tighter as she bit her lip. She watched Keefe scoot farther into the bed until he was leaning comfortably against a pillow on the headboard.

He spread his legs apart and patted the bed in between them, causing Sophie to raise a brow. She swallowed the little bit of fear inside of her and walked over, crawling to where he wanted her to.

She sat, opening her mouth to ask him what was going on when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him so that her back was flush against his body: yet another intimate position that made her cheeks spring with colour.

"Keefe," she whispered, clearly a little embarrassed/ nervous.

He kissed the top of her head. "Hey, trust me on this, okay?"

He pulled her hair back into a ponytail—probably do then her hair wouldn't get in his face—and Sophie's mind was focused on the sweet detail which was that he had brought along a hairtie in case she needed one. It was a small gesture, but it still affected her.

He then wrapped both arms around each side of her body and placed them onto her swollen abdomen. "Can you give me your hands?" he asked quietly.

She picked up her own two hands and he lifted up his own, letting her place his hands under his. He put his hands back down on hers and tangled their fingers together. "We're gonna push a little here and there. Not too much, because we don't wanna hurt you or the kid,"—he chuckled a little a softly smiled—", but enough so that the baby can actually feel it. Okay?"

"Okay," she whispered, fighting off her shudder. She was a little scared with a dash of nervous, and it didn't help that he was so close and talking so low.

He nuzzled his nose to the side of her head, planting a kiss on her hair again. She felt the pressure of his own hands beginning to push lightly, so she did the same, trying to match the pressure he was putting.

Their hands moved around her belly, pressing over every inch of skin, trying to find where the baby was and see if the little one would react. After a few minutes of silently concentrating on pushing, Sophie said quietly, "I don't think it's working."

The disappointment in her voice couldn't be hidden.

Her husband sighed. "Maybe the baby just isn't ready, yet. That isn't _bad_ , I was just hoping—"

Sophie let out a startled yelp when a pushing sensation tickled and moved her from the inside. "Keefe!" she laughed, grabbing his hand and guiding him to the spot. She pushed his hand down on her abdomen. "Do you feel that!?"

Keefe held his breath and Sophie stayed silent, awaiting his answer. He suddenly chuckled, kissing the tip of her ear and strangling her in a hug with his other arm that wasn't occupied with feeling where the baby was kicking.

"Aw," Sophie cooed, sniffling a little. "Our baby actually kicked, Keefe. They kicked."

"I mean it would have been nice if they'd have kicked for the three full minutes we were pushing for, but—"

Sophie looked back and shot him a disapproving look and he laughed. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

And when he kissed her head one last time, she knew he meant it.


	14. Chapter 14

Sophie and Keefe received a bit of teasing when they came downstairs after the while that they had spent up in Sophie's old bedroom. It had been over twenty minutes, she would guess, but all they'd been doing was trying to make the baby kick.

And, hey, maybe a little innocent kiss here or there. . .

They _were_ married, so it wasn't like it was against any rules.

When Sophie tried to defend herself and announced that the baby had been kicking, everyone was all over the couple again, fawning and celebrating giddily. Biana made Sophie promise that if the baby kicked again, she would hail her or make every attempt to get the brunette over there.

The pregnant blonde was tempted to point out that that would never work and that mini Sencen would surely stop kicking by the time she light-leaped there (which Biana had also made very clear she would do as fast as possible if Sophie hailed her).

Instead, she nodded her head. But, she added that she'd also try and see if she could get the baby to kick again later on in the night, since she didn't want to pester the little one after just having poked at them in the bedroom a few minutes before.

While Sophie and Keefe had been upstairs, the rest of the group had been making plans to/setting up the living room for opening the presents and watching a movie—they did the same every year. It was kind of a tradition.

Sophie, having not eaten in a few hours and having an appetite for two, was more than hungry. However, she was a _tiny_ bit embarrassed to ask for food the moment that she settled down on the couch to open presents—which they were doing quickly before they would watch the movie—so she decided to stay quiet. You know, for as long as possible. She knew that there was a chance she might have to run out to the kitchen to get food.

. . . Or the bathroom. She had been noticing that the morning sickness was getting a bit better, but the real problem was her bladder, which apparently was very hard to control whilst pregnant.

So, she snuggled up into the couch, with a pillow in between her and the armrest, and Keefe on the opposite side, repressing any thoughts of food that might make her hunger flare. His arm laid across her shoulders and she had one hand in his legs, the other on her belly where it usually rested.

It felt so natural for her to touch her or rest her hand on her swollen abdomen, all of a sudden, and she couldn't place her finger on the exact reason as to why. Maybe it was because she felt very protective of the baby or maybe it was just a mother instinct to put her hand there.

The bag had been brought inside from out on the patio, so everyone has received their tin of assorted ripplepuffs. The cupcakes were placed on the coffee table in between the two couches, arranged carefully on a tray.

"So," Biana said as she grabbed a pink cupcake and paused from opening her wrapped present carefully, "does this pink mean anything, by any chance?" She asked it so suggestively like she had cracked a huge mystery case.

Sophie snorted out a laugh. "To be honest with you, I don't even have a small _idea_ on how far in I have to be to be able find out the gender."

Now that she took the time to think about it, was she that far along? She was around sixteen to seventeen weeks in now, so she couldn't possibly be that far from that point—if she wasn't already there.

I mean, she had already had a full-blown ultrasound.

"It's around eighteen to twenty-two weeks, if my memory is serving me correctly," Edaline announced, and Della offered a nod to confirm that she was correct. "And, from what I'm seeing so far, the baby has done a lot of things pretty early on. Such as, you were able to see them at the twelve week ultrasound, right?"

Sophie and Keefe nodded in sync, confirming that they had most definitely seen the baby. Keefe had a small smile on his face as he squeezed her shoulder, and she couldn't decide whether it was warm or teasing, but she knew he was most definitely remembering the moment when Sophie had broke down into a sobbing mess in the doctor's room.

To be fair, shortly after her own breaking down, Keefe had followed. He _had_ attempted to be a little more reserved and put together for the sake of Dr. Mercado and the nurse who probably felt absolutely helpless, but he had still cried with her—and if he teased her about it, she was going to tease him right back.

"Of course, with just kicking, as well," Della continued, "I'm sure you'll be able to find out in a week or two, if you want to."

"Do you plan to?" Edaline asked.

"Um," Sophie said, looking over to Keefe. He shrugged, clearly just as unsure as her. They hadn't discussed whether they were going to find out the gender right when they could, or if they even wanted to. For all she knew, he might want it to be a surprise. And when Sophie thought about it, she herself didn't even know for sure what she wanted to do.

"I don't know, yet," she finally replied.

"Do you have any ideas for names?" Linh asked, enjoying a few of the ripplepuffs from her tin, which Sophie was glad to see. Being quite pregnant, she hadn't given a thought to going out to Atlantis and searching for gifts, and she'd just reverted to the idea of baking her family's presents.

"Oh, we were actually talking about a few the other day," Keefe answered for her. "Right?"

"Mhm," she answered, cheeks painted pink at how everyone's attention was, for the most part, centered on her. They did pay attention to Keefe whenever he spoke, but she felt like all nine pairs of blue eyes on the room were constantly fixated around, or on, her. Well, her and her baby, she supposed.

It wasn't just _her_ body anymore—it was her baby's first home, as Dr. Mercado had told her.

"Are you okay with sharing any?" Dex asked, considerate and respectful of her feelings and wishes, as always. "Or would you rather not say?"

"Uhh, sure," Sophie agreed, trying to rally together all the names that and been blurted that eventful day. "But we were kinda just venting off random names," she warned.

" _I_ was venting off names," Keefe corrected. "Under pressure, might I add, so they're probably not all that swell."

" _I_ was the one on the floor in pain," she argued against his "under pressure" statement, and Keefe laughed when he looked at her face, seeing her eyebrows that had risen up in a challenging look.

"You win," he said.

They glanced back at the rest of the room, and everyone either had worry or complete confusion written on their faces—or a healthy mixture of the two.

"You were _'on the floor in pain?'_ " Grady repeated, clearly the most concerned out of the entire group.

The names were obviously completely forgotten, so Sophie didn't even try to get them back on track.

"It's not as bad as it sounds," she promised, rolling the sleeves of her sweatshirt over her cold hands and placing both of them over her stomach. "It's just practice contractions. Just moving the baby around and stretching the muscles. I was fine."

"You liar," Keefe piped up, chuckling as she glared at him. "What? You were hurting—for a couple of hours, actually."

"It was in and off every twenty to thirty minutes, for a couple of hours," she argued. "You're making it sound like I was dying."

"What am I supposed to say? I came into the room to find you seething in pain and gripping a chair. "

"I was _wincing_ ," she corrected. "Seething is during anger. And if you keep talking, I will soon be _seething_ at _you."_

Everyone in the room seemed to be sharing a collective look of horror/sympathy for Sophie, ignoring her little attempt at a joke to lighten the mood.

"You were okay, though, right?" Fitz checked.

"Yeah," Sophie replied quickly, making sure Keefe couldn't butt in and try and say otherwise. She _had_ been in hurting, but it was only for a brief time, _and_ she got breaks in between the waves of pain. Plus, no one had ever said pregnancy was going to be a cake walk, so she hadn't ever expected it to be all rainbows. "I was okay."

Sophie shifted when a light wave of nausea washed over her body like a tidal wave and Keefe rubbed her shoulder, helping her ride out the uncomfortable feeling.

After that everyone still asked Sophie a few questions, but everyone who has yet to open their gifts ripped through all the pristine wrapping paper. It littered the floor and laughter filled the air, filling Sophie with a warm, bubbly feeling. She always loved the annual Christmas party, but this year was just so much different—and she loved it.

She also couldn't get it out of her head that the following year, she'd be able to bring her baby with, officially out-of-the-womb.

Everyone watched as Sophie struggled to stand up from the couch, Keefe giving her a helpful, spreading hand on the small of her back as she stood and walked into the kitchen.

She giggled when her adoptive mother trailed in a few seconds later, watching Sophie open the fridge and rifle through it. "I'm raiding you fridge, I hope you don't mind. Also, how did I know you were going to follow me on here?"

Edaline seemed a little flushed. "I'm worried about you! I just want to make sure you're all good."

"Mom, what could I possibly do in the kitchen that could cause me harm? This kitchen is the cleanest place on the planet—you clean this area like a madwoman," she teased.

But what Sophie was saying was true. Edaline really liked to keep the place where she prepared food as tidy as possible, and there was barely anything on the countertops except for things that needed to be there. The rest of the appliances and utensils were all tucked away neatly into the drawers and cupboards.

"Knowing you, you could trip and fall," Edaline pointed out, but not in a teasing way. She was dead-on serious, coming behind her daughter and placing a hand on her shoulder. "What are you looking for?"

Sophie's face heated up as she mumbled, "Ice cream."

Edaline laughed. "Well, I'm super glad I got some ice cream, then. Is chocolate good with you?"

"I think that I could just eat chocolate ice cream for the rest of my pregnancy," Sophie chuckled in reply.

Edaline's smile lit up her entire face as she pulled the small tub of ice cream from the freezer, closing the large doors and beckoning Sophie over to the granite island where she set the tub. "I don't think the doctor would approve, but I understand," she laughed.

Sophie opened a cupboard behind Edaline's back, trying to reach up on her tiptoes to grab a bowl for her mother. She didn't want to seem helpless or useless, and she didn't want to sit back as her mom prepared the whole thing for her.

Edaline was caught up in digging through a drawer for a spoon to scoop the ice cream with that she hadn't realized what her daughter was doing until she heard the grunt and the long exhale.

She turned in slight alarm to see Sophie leaning against the counter near the open cupboard above her. "So it turns out," she started as Edaline popped a hand on her hip, looking about ready to scold Sophie for trying to grab it herself (when it had clearly been destined for failure from the beginning), "I am useless for grabbing anything from cupboards whilst pregnant."

Edaline rolled her eyes and giggled, waving the spoon at Sophie. " _You_ are going to sit down."

"But, I can scoop the ice cream if you just grab the bowl for me," Sophie defended, disliking how stubborn her mother was being, shepherding her around like she was a walking disaster. Just because she was pregnant didn't mean that she couldn't do things—though, the bowl ordeal was a _pretty_ bad example. . .

"Do I need to get Biana in here to drag you back to the couch?" her mom threatened, chuckling when Biana shouted from the living room that she had heard and was on standby.

Sophie began waddling back to the living room.

* * *

 ** **a/n: STORY TIME!****

 ** **i saved a kitten today from the side of the road (she was all skinny and limping and it looks like she got hit by a car or something), but she bit me and i'm concerned because now that i've been observing her i think she might have rabies?****

 ** _ **anyway**_** ** **, hope you liked it! it was kinda random, buuuut.. oh well, lol. deal with it!****

 ** **also, request chapter ideas,**** ** _ **please!**_**


	15. Chapter 15

**a/n: first, i finally got a new computer - yay! second, school starts for me in a week or two, which means fewer and more infrequent/slow updates - so, boo to that!**

 **also, i thought it was quite funny how most all of you were concerned only for the cat's well-being, whereas the people on wattpad were more concerned with my own well-being. i _did_ say that cat looks like it has rabies _and_ bit me, guys, lmao.**

* * *

 **r.r**

 **roseannej;** _i'll take your request into consideration! thank you so much! :)_

 **FlowerGirl15;** _well, like i said, i think there is a chance she has rabies - and she was hit with a car - so i may not keep her. reason being, if she has rabies, that's a quit obvious reason as to why i cannot keep her. if she doesn't, she was hit with a car and i do not have the money to bring her to the vet and help her, so i think that it would be best for me to give her up to someone else who can give her a good home and can afford to bring her to the vet._

 _as for your comment on this being a good fanfic, thank you so much! you have no idea how happy i am that you - and a few others - are enjoying it! also, i actually am working on an original story. so far it has 2,080 reads on wattpad, which is hard to come by on that website, so i'm pretty happy! x)_

 _as always, though, i have many improvements to make just as any other writer. i have a long way to go to get to the place i want to be, in terms of writing skills!_

 _lastly, i'm hoping i did justice to your request! you'll be the judge of that, once you read this chapter, haha._

 **Brianna;** _thank you! and if anything happens with her, i'll be sure to update you. :)_

 _i am 15-16, and it is super nice to see another older kotlc fan here! i usually see 11-13 year olds, which is nice, but it's cool to have someone of your age! :)_

 _aww, i never meant to not include dex much - i promise i love and appreciate him! and i'll try to include him more, but it's mostly about sophie, keefe, and unborn mini Sencen, so i make no promises as to the amount that feature him!_

 _lastly, as for base quest, i can try to include your request - though it will be a bit tricky. pregnant women aren't really made to play base quest, haha._

 _thank you for reviewing! i loved hearing from you. :)_

* * *

When Sophie arrived back in the living room after fleeing the kitchen to avoid being dragged outall eyes returned to her once again and she felt the familiar heat blossom on her cheeks. Something about the attention everyone was suddenly paying to her made her very flustered in some manner.

She knew they were probably just getting used to seeing her very pregnant, or they were just a little mesmerized with the fact that she was actually going to give life to a mini her. She had to admit that the idea still tugged at her every so often, because it was wild and weird and amazing to know that her body was knitting together the small masterpiece.

She immediately noticed that Biana and Linh - who had previously been sitting right next to each other - had scooted apart, leaving a bubble of space between their two bodies. Both of them beckoned and gestured for her to come and sit in the middle of them, patting the couch cushion.

Sophie's lips pulled into a grateful smile and glanced at Keefe, sending an apologetic, slightly sheepish shrug paired with blushing cheeks, silently signalling that she was accepting their gracious offer.

He shook his blond head in joking disapproval and shock as she waddled over the two girls, sitting down in between them and sinking into the plush cushions. "Oh, _I_ see how it is—abandon me for your girl friends," he teased.

It wasn't like she had purposely been trying to, quote, 'abandon' her husband on the couch opposite where she now sat, but she hadn't wanted to reject Biana and Linh's offer. Besides, she always got to see and interact with Keefe, as they were kind of married and they _maybe_ just lived together.

A few minutes later, Edaline returned with a bowl full of ice cream and a spoon, and she smiled at the red-faced Sophie as she handed her daughter the savory treat. Edaline got comfortable on a couch again, taking her place beside Grady and the conversing resumed.

Grady and Alden explained the stupid declaration that the Council had given the previous day, and the fact that Sophie hadn't known about it until then made her realize how she had really cooped herself up in the house. It was a little hard for her to keep up with the outside world, though, when she was afraid to lightleap while pregnant.

Then the group started chatting about what they had done for the span of months they had been apart, and it was all fairly interesting, but Sophie was beginning to get more exhausted than she would have liked. She still had to stay awake for the movie, which seemed like it wouldn't begin until later.

She was leizurely eating her ice cream, not caring that it was melting into a sweet soup in the bottom of the bowl - in fact, she didn't mind and quite frankly enjoyed the ice cream when turned into a puddle of delicious syrup. But as she continued to eat, she noticed everyone's eyes rested on her, watching her with some sort of gooey enchantment, despite whatever random topic they were convering about.

She paused in the middle of eating, her spoon in her mouth as she licked off the chocolate, setting the silver utensil back down into the bowl and swallowing. Her skin erupted in sweltering heat, kissing and warming her skin. ". . . You're all staring at me," she observed aloud, softly and timidly.

"You look comfy. And cute. And you're eating ice cream. And you're sporting the whole 'pregnant glow'. _And_ you're so adorably flustered," Keefe teased. "How could we not watch you?"

Grady rolled his eyes as the rest of the room either laughed or had their own faces turn red, but he added, "You _are_ cute, though."

"I think I've had enough of Tease Sophie time," she said, her blush creeping to her neck as she shifted on the couch.

"It's Make Foster Blush time," Keefe corrected, earning a rather dramatic eye roll from Sophie and a snort from Dex.

"She's not a Foster anymore - never really was, when she got to the Lost Cities, anyway - and _you_ of all people should know that," Dex pointed out and Keefe gave a tad-too-smug grin, probably reminiscing about the day he had somehow managed to convince Sophie to marry him.

And, of course, get Grady to allow the whole marriage - that was a _pretty_ large leap from just dating to eternally bound spouses. And Keefe and Sophie were marrying fairly young, at least compared to other elves.

The more that she watched Keefe's twinkling, smiling eyes wading in some sort of warm mirth, the more her own heart fluttered and the memories flooded back.

* * *

 _Sophie sat on the edge of the cliff, legs dangling over the edge and looming over the crashing waves below. The wet wind licked and bit at her cheeks, a stinging sensation on her skin as her damp, loose strands of hair whipped in her face._

 _She'd had another fight with Keefe and they were becoming way more frequent than she wanted. She didn't enjoy fighting with him, not after everything they'd been through in their youth/teenage years. And now, graduated from the Elite Levels and finally straightening out the last hard lines with the Black Swan (mostly just pestering them with saying she wanted ahold of and was incline to both of - or at least one - late Mr. Forkle's caches)._

 _After years and years of Sophie denying Keefe's teasing of his self-proclaimed 'love triangle', she hadn't been able to ignore it anymore. It had grown into a festering problem and she'd taken her chance, her leap, to find out what her true feelings were in the whole ordeal._

 _It was painful and she had done it very begrudgingly, but she'd dug through every nook and cranny of her buried feelings and had found they were. . . different from what she thought._

 _After all, she supposed, if she had truly loved the first man in her life with full devotion, she would have never fallen for the second._

 _. . .And yet, her and Keefe were having problems that couldn't be ignored. But she was just afraid of confronting him about it, ripping open the wound and leaving it bleeding and raw. What if they couldn't sew it back up? What if that was the end of everything they'd been working so hard to build up?_

 _So many failed attempts at dates, checking in on one another - none of it was working out. And she was terrified._

 _". . .Foster?" a voice asked, concern laced into the tender words._

 _Sophie blinked when after a spell of silence and absence of movement, a figure settled down next to her with a sigh. He left a noticeable, but respectable amount of space between the two of them. She appreciated how he accepted her boundaries, but it still hurt to know why he was there._

 _She'd been avoiding him and she'd cut off contact ever since their last date, if you could even call it that. Maybe it was better just to use the word "encounter", even if they'd fully planned to meet up that night._

 _Though, they hadn't fully planned for the night to end like it had._

 _She didn't say a word, refusing to turn and look at him, though she could see his hands shoved in his pockets with her peripheral vision, and his head of blond hair. She swallowed, not wanting to talk about everything._

 _The last time they had been together, the last time they had seen each other until now, their almost-date had spiraled down into a fight. Of course, there had been some_ grand _rumors circling around that had gotten to her about Keefe and his not-stellar. . . reputation, one could say? Sophie knew Keefe was, even if it were only in a small way, a player by relationship terms._

 _He didn't seem like the type of guy who would settle down with one girl, take his time to get to know her, and only continue with things if he felt it was right and she was okay with it. He was a hit and run, a one-night stand, a kiss her and break her type of guy. A traditional heart breaker._

 _And now he had her heart in his hands, and it was starting to bleed so much that she feared, if she let it be, it would rust over and there would be no more feelings left in her for him._

 _Long story short, he'd been seen with another girl recently and after the information had gotten to Sophie, her inner suspicions rose and she couldn't just ignore it and brush it off. If Keefe was messing around, she didn't want any part in it._

 _"I don't know why I keep giving you second chances," Sophie whispered. "I should have only given you one, but this is far over that limit."_

 _Keefe didn't say a thing and he didn't move for a few seconds, miming her by staring out over the vast waters. "I'm sorry," he finally apologized, some sort of raw shame in his voice that pricked at Sophie's heart. "I promise you I wasn't doing anything," he continued. "You know? With. . . her?"_

 _Sophie's voice cracked as she answered, "I know,_ her _. But. . . You actually did see her?"_

 _"_ She _is a random girl, Foster. But, yes I did see her. And, again, I say this in all honesty and completely promise you that nothing is happening with that. Alright? Please," he pled._

 _She drew in a shaky breath, standing up and beginning to storm away from him. She didn't want to be near him, didn't want to listen to what he had to say. He had seen another girl - he had just admitted it right to her face._

 _She didn't want to hear about the girl or his excuses. She didn't want to be one of Keefe's girls, his toys. . . She wanted to be the only one, or she just couldn't do it. She was the exclusive girlfriend-boyfriend type of girl. She was the love story, get married, have kids type-of-girl._

 _"Foster!" Keefe shouted, his stomping footsteps growing increasingly louder as he sped to catch up with her. "Sophie!"_

 _"I'm done, Keefe!" she snapped above the whipping noise of the wind, not daring to slow her pace. Tears rolled down her cheeks, mixing with the fresh, drizzling raindrops that were starting to plop down from the gray sky and stain her clothes._

 _"Sophie stop!" he ordered, finally sprinting and catching up with her. He grabbed her wrists and pulled her to a rather forceful stop._

 _"Let go of me!" she hollered, tugging her hands sharply to get out of his grip. "I never want to see you again!"_

 _"Sophie, listen to me, please," he begged, his gaze earnest._

 _'No!" she said. "I'm not doing this, Keefe! I'm not going to be one of man! I want you and I only have you, but if you're going around and having me_ plus _others-"_

 _"That's not what's happening! Please, trust me on this," he said._

 _"No! I told you we're through!" A sob escaped her lips, weakening the force of her words. "Go away. . ."_

 _He was silent for a spell, watching her with affection as she trembled from her sobs. She hated it. She hated how he could read her heart so easily and make her lose control of her emotions so easily. She hated him, she hated him, she hated him!_

 _". . .Do you really want me to go?" He asked softly, "Do you want me to walk out of your life?"_

 _She whimpered, biting her lip and averting her gaze. as the rain drops began to fall in drizzle, her hair and shoulders getting soaked. But she didn't care. She just wanted away from him._

 _He let go of her wrists, taking her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him._

 _"Sophie."_

 _She sniffled, but said nothing, her body shuddering slightly from her sobs._

 _"I don't want to lose you, okay?!" she snapped, roughly wiping her eyes. "Because I really, really like you! I hate you so much and I can't stand you and I hate the way you make me feel so out of control, but I think I love you!"_

 _His eyebrows shot up at the sudden confession. She was surprised like him for saying those three very important and fragile words. But she was also surprised at the fact that she had expressed the other reason she was truly not okay with him seeing other people._

 _"I really do," she whispered. "And I. . ." Her voice cracked._

 _"We aren't even official," he laughed, but his voice sounded thick and soon she noticed his own misty eyes. "We've been on twelve dates. Dates that failed miserably, yeah, but you can't tell me something as important as that - not yet. Take it slow, Foster," he teased softly. He traced light circles on her cheeks with his thumbs, wiping away the tears and rain in the process._

 _She shivered from the cold, but also the intensity of his gaze._

 _"Do you know why I went and met with that girl?" he asked, his breath leaving hot trails on her cold skin._

 _"No," she mumbled, a little curious as to what he was about to say. But she was also embarrassed at the fact that she hadn't really looked into his whole meeting with the girl._

 _He smiled shakily and pulled back from her, taking a bit of his warmth with him and it left Sophie feeling more empty than she would have liked. His hands tore through his pockets and he pulled out a velvety box that made Sophie's eyes widen. Her heartbeat raced and her breath caught in her chest._

 _"Keefe. . ." she said warningly._

 _He caught her worried look and smiled teasingly, even though his hands fumbled to open the box. "I know what you're thinking. And no, I'm not proposing to you or something wild. Grady and Gigantor would pummel me."_

 _Sophie sniffled and her lips twitched with a smile._

 _"It's a promise ring," he explained, tugging it out of its box and holding it out to show her. "And I'm making a promise to you to try and be better. I'm going to do everything I can to be there for you when you need me, and even when you don't. I'm promising you that as long as you want me, I'll be your only one and_ you _will be_ my _only one."_

 _"I want forever," she whispered, sniffling._

 _He smiled softly. "Well, can we make it official, Foster?" he asked. "Will you be my girlfriend? Then we can work on that forever."_

 _"As long as you promise not to take me on another awful date," she teased, giggling when he rolled his eyes._

 _"Alright - no more half-thought-out dates. Now will you do me the honor?"_

 _She blinked back her tears, grabbing his hands. "Yes," she whispered. "Absolutely."_

 _And she cupped his jaw, rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him for the first time._

* * *

 _Sophie sat in her bedroom on her canopied bed, looking over possible job applications for her to fill out. The thick packets that she had picked up from various locations were sprawled out on her bed, looking ominous enough closed. she didn't want to open them up and look at the extensive questions._

 _Sophie jumped ad scrambled back on the bed when the door flung open, revealing a giddy Edaline. She waved her hands, gesturing for Sophie to get up "Come on!" she said. "Come here, quickly!"_

 _"What's happening?" Sophie asked, more than alarmed, getting up from the bed and cautiously ambling over to her mother. "Did something happen?"_

 _"Well, it's about to," she said, a little breathless as she went behind Sophie and started nudging her out of her bedroom and down the stairs. "Go on! Go look!"_

 _"W-Where's Dad?" the blonde asked, trying not to fall down the stairs from Edaline's excited pushing and ushering._

 _"Oh, grumbling and watching out the window."_

 _"What? What for?"_

 _"Just go!" Edaline laughed, stopping halfway down the stairs and waving her hands at Sophie, telling her to continue on her own._

 _It was nighttime and even though her Mom and Dad never knew her as one to sleep, she had guessed that at this hour they would have left her be and assumed she was at least attempting to get some sleep. This had to be serious if they were willing to get her up and drag her out of bed._

 _And what in Eternlia was Grady doing watching out the window?_

 _Sophie stepped down the last few stairs cautiously, scanning her surroundings with her large brown eyes. Everything looked the same, but she still observed every little detail of the first floor to ensure that it was nothing small that had changed. Edaline seemed extra giddy and clearly wanted Sophie to figure it out on her own, so maybe it was something bigger. Something she would notice more easily. Something. . ._

 _And her eyes landed on a beautiful blond haired boy, namely the one that she had spent years with now, proudly calling him her boyfriend. But Keefe had been out on what could only be called a "business trip" from the Council, ever since he had newly become an Emissary._

 _She hadn't seen him for_ months _. Apparently becoming an Emissary was a dredging project._

 _She covered her mouth and heard Edaline's laughter from the stairs behind as Keefe smiled warmly, opening his arms and inviting her. "There's my beautiful Foster," he complimented._

 _Sophie couldn't even blush, too overwhelmed by her happiness at finally seeing him again. She ran to him, relishing the feel of his chest moving up and down as he chuckled when she launched herself into his arms. He picked her up and held her close, her legs wrapping around his torso. She buried her face into his neck, hugging him tight and not even caring that she was only wearing one of his shirts._

 _He smiled, kissing her head and breathing in the sweet scent of the perfume in her hair, rubbing her back lovingly. After a few moments of silence and him calming Sophie - who felt like she was on the verge of tears - he whispered into her ear, "Let's go on a walk, Sophie."_

 _"What?" she asked, pulling back and looking him in the eyes. She shook her head. "No. I want to talk with you. And we can raid the fridge or something and cuddle while I whine about my job application packets."_

 _Keefe laughed and she pouted when he said, "As fun as that sounds, I really want to take you on a walk. Can we do that?"_

 _He set Sophie down, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door. He opened it and pulled her out into the cold, leaving the house behind as he lead her down the familiar path to the cliffside._

 _"Keefe!" she protested as he continued to pull her along. "I'm wearing imp slippers!"_

 _"I noticed," he laughed._

 _Only then in her embarrassment did she notice the twinkling lights hanging from the Panakes tree and the little petals on the path that was guiding their way._

 _"I did the best I could in thirty minutes," he said sheepishly as they stopped. "Sorry it's not stellar."_

 _And then her eyes widened when he bent down on one knee in front of her, her heart racing uncontrollably fast._

 _"Oh my God. . ."_

 _Keefe's expression grew wholly serious._

 _"Sophie Elizabeth Foster, I want to marry you because you're the only peson I want to see when I wake up in the morning and the only person I want to kiss goodnight. I want you to be the only person to ever hold my hands and I want to be the only person to hold your heart. I want to watch people try and flirt with you, then notice the band on your finger. I want to be able to turn that Foster into Sencen, even if it is a god awful last name to put on you."_

 _Sophie whimpered, her lip trembling, and she brought her hands to her mouth as he pulled out a velvet box - and she realized that it was the same one from the day when he'd asked her to be his girlfriend - opening it to reveal a beautiful sapphire stone flanked by diamonds and attached to a gold band._

 _"I know I'm not perfect. And I know I don't deserve you, not at all." He watched her earnestly, his eyes shining in warmth and affection. "But when a person like me - a person with major trust issues and just issues in general - loves someone as much as I love you, the only thing left for me to do is is to marry you. And I'm crazy about you. Will you do me the honour of spending the rest of your life with me? Will you marry me?"_

 _"Do you even have to ask, you idiot?" she said, her voice cracking as tears blurred her vision and rolled down her cheeks. "Yes!"_

 _She catapulted herself onto him, nearly knocking them bother over before he even got a chance to take off her promise ring, and slip the new engagement ring on her finger. She kissed his face over and over, crying happily, laughs breaking through her sobbing. '"I finally understand!"_

 _"Understand what, babe?'" he asked, wiping the tears from her face and pressing his lips softly to hers._

 _When he pulled away and began wiping off the fresh tears rolling down her cheeks, she laughed and exclaimed, "I finally understand why Grady was watching out the window!"_

* * *

 _She was Mrs. now._

 _Mrs. Keefe Sencen._

 _She could barely wrap the idea around her head as the rhythmic music played in the background and she swayed to it in her whit dress. The lace sleeves and diamond-dotted bodice paired with the layered, poofy skirt were enough to make her feel like a princess, but then there was the lavish party, the fancily-dressed guests. . ._

 _And her prince there, leading her slowly in a dance._

 _She could feel his heartbeat through his suit and she looked up, their eyes meeting. Her eyelashes fluttered and he smiled down at her adoringly, his gaze filled to the brim with love. "Can I still call you Foster?" he asked, making her snort and look at the floor underneath their feet, and she couldn't help feeling utterly elegant with her jeweled heels adorning her feet._

 _But then she suddenly looked back up, and she was giggling. "Always," she agreed._

 _And he leaned down without another word and kissed her sweetly. It was a kiss that conveyed everlasting love and sewed together all of his promises. He was no longer the boy she loved, nor the man she loved - he was her husband. Her spouse. Her partner in life._

 _"I love you," she whispered after they had broke apart._

 _Keefe smiled. "I love you, too."_

* * *

 **a/n: that wraps up this chapter!**

 **by the way, as a quick update, i am not going to be able to update this story again until, err... sunday or later? sorry!**


	16. Chapter 16

**a/n: i may or may not have named the cat that i saved genesis...**

 **because genesis means beginning... and she got a new beginning, sooo...**

 **— sophie**

* * *

 **r.r**

 **FlowerGirl15;** _thank you so very much! i'm overjoyed that you liked the previous chapter! it was really fun for me to write, if i'm being honest._

 _and, yes, lol—i don't think keefe could ever give up calling her foster._

 **Die Heiresses;** _thank you, love! :)_

* * *

"Hey, do we have any plans for this upcoming week?"

Sophie put down the book she was reading— _'The Wonders of Motherhood'_ —gently setting it on the nightstand next to her bed when Keefe finally came out of her old bathroom. He had been taking a fairly lengthy shower and Sophie had been itching to ask him a question, basically ever since she'd found out she was pregnant.

She was a little nervous for his response, but she just had to get it over with. And now that he was _finally_ out of the shower, he could dry off and she could spit out the question quickly. Rip it off like a bandaid.

Keefe's sandy hair was still wet and adorably matted to his head, a few darkened strands plastered to his forehead. There was a fluffy grey towel lazily wrapped around his waist, covering his lower body and she could see droplets of water still clinging to his skin.

"Mmm, I don't think so," Sophie replied, respectively glancing away to allow Keefe time to gather some clothes from the bag and slip on his pajamas.

It wasn't like she hadn't _seen_ stuff—heck, they had a kid on the way. And thankfully she wasn't embarrassed about their bodies, because she wasn't an awkward teenager anymore (praise the lord).

 _However_ , she knew that not staring was a) just the respectful, responsible, and mature thing to do, and b) it helped her not to appear like a stalker. She knew Keefe would tease her two endlessly if she even _glanced_ in that general direction, despite whether or not she was purposefully trying to peek at him.

"Your stomach is getting really full, babe," he informed, referring to the large, round shape. The bed suddenly creaked and squished down, and Sophie knew Keefe had hopped on.

He was crawling over to her, smelling of his familiar scent of spice and rain. He was in fresh pajamas, now, and he laid on his stomach, propping his upper half propped up with his elbows. His head was near her stomach and he side-glanced her bump, smirking lightly at her.

"Can I talk to the baby?" he requested softly, brushing his knuckles gently along the side of her belly.

"Uh, no," she decided a little more quickly than intended. She didn't want to push him away, but something about his low, even tone made her want to shiver. But not in a bad way.

"The baby probably can't even hear you," she added for extra measure.

She squirmed lightly as he grabbed the bottom hem of her shirt and rolled it lazily in between his pointer finger and thumb. His ice blue gaze was centered entirely on her, filling her stomach with butterflies that melted into a tickly acid, causing goosebumps to prickle her skin.

She'd never understood how he could do that to her with just one simple look. It was crazy how much control he had over her without himself even realizing, and it was equally crazy how much she had fallen for him over the years.

She was utterly and hopelessly in love with him and she knew she never would have made it if they hadn't gotten married.

"The baby can hear by sixteen weeks, if it's loud enough. It's a long shot and I will admit they can completely hear by twenty-four weeks, but why not get started early?"

She chewed on her lower lip when he pulled up her shirt, placing a hand on her bare skin.

"Hey, kiddo," Keefe whispered, sending a little lop-sided smirk to Sophie when she squirmed again. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, then kissed her swollen abdomen.

"Mommy doesn't really appreciate me doing this, in case you can't tell. I think she's just a little uncomfortable or embarrassed, but I want to talk to you, so I'm going to have to break a few rules, aren't I?"

Sophie rolled her fawn eyes and Keefe chuckled, lifting a hand and caressing her cheek with his thumb. After a few seconds his expression grew wholly serious and soft as he looked back at her stomach, dropping his hand from Sophie's cheek.

"I love you, baby bean," he whispered, rubbing her belly. "I can't wait to see you. I can't wait hold you and make you smile."

Keefe flickered his face back to hers and gave a crooked, lop-sided smile as he informed, "That's a lot of mush and and sap and gushiness you're flinging at me, hun."

"Well, if you're talking to our kid like _that_ ," Sophie countered, her voice cracking along the edge as she tried desperately to hold back the floodgates.

Once again, she couldn't understand how such a simple thing impacted her and made her react in such a way. These hormones had to be killer.

Keefe's warm smile brightened his entire face and melted her insides. How had she ever been so lucky as to marry someone as amazing as _him_?

He turned back to her baby bump, but still whispered to her and not particularly the baby, "I can't believe I'm a Daddy."

The phrase was much different from the one, 'I can't _wait_ to be a Daddy', since elves counted their age (if they even so chose to do) from the moment of conception. It was a little weird for Sophie to remember, though, since her entire childhood had been filled with the whole "birthday" tradition instead.

But hearing Keefe say that aloud brought her back to the present and made the memory click into place.

"They're already sixteen or seventeen weeks," Sophie said.

Keefe nodded. "So, four months or four months and a week," he clarified for her.

"Aw," Sophie cooed, placing her own hand next to Keefe's. "Our baby is going to be here really fast. It's all going to fly by, isn't it?"

"It already _is_ flying by," Keefe corrected, lacing their hands together on top of her stomach, just like they had done earlier that night to make the baby kick.

Actually, now that Keefe thought about it, it was probably 2am which was the _morning_ , not the night—not that he really cared. He'd stay up late any time possible if it meant getting extra time with Foster and the baby.

"I can't believe it's been four months," he mumbled, pressing his lips to the side of her bump again.

Sophie opened her mouth to reply, when their baby—as if on cue from somehow knowing that Keefe had kissed her stomach—gave a little series of kicks.

"This kid is doing gymnastics in there," Sophie giggled as Keefe wiped his eyes. She had to blink away her own tears.

"Aw, we're raising a little gymnast," Keefe teased after trying to compose himself.

"Let's hope they're not as clumsy as me, or they probably won't make it to any championships."

"Let's also hope they're tall enough."

"Oh god," Sophie moaned, patting her belly, "for the good of everyone, _please_ surpass my height. I _need_ you to be taller than me, baby bean."

"You're rather determined to be tall, aren't you?" Keefe asked with a grin.

"I _will_ be considered tall one way or another—even if it is through my child."

Keefe laughed, caressing her plump abdomen in soft circles with his thumb. "Are you gonna be taller than Mommy, nutella?"

" _Nutella_?" Sophie questioned. She was a tiny bit amused and impressed that Keefe knew about Nutella, but she was also a little shocked at the fact that he had randomly referred to their baby with the name.

Keefe broke into laughter when he caught sight of her horrified expression.

"We need to think of some nicknames," he explained, "and nutella is cute, whether you think so or not."

"I beg to differ."

"You seem to like baby bean," Keefe pointed out with a raised eyebrow as if he were accusing her if it. Accusing playfully, though, of course. "Why not add nutella in there?"

Sophie sighed. "You're very persistent, you know that? Alright, then. We'll add nutella in there as long as you don't go calling them that 24/7. And do not even try and say that I came up with that or something when our friends question the name choice."

"Temporary nickname choice," Keefe corrected with a smug grin. "Annd there will be absolutely no need for me trying to pass it off as your idea, because it is brilliant and they will love it. _Therefore_ , I will _gladly_ take my full, well-deserved credit for and of the stellar nickname."

Sophie rolled her eyes at her husband's dramatics, pulling her shirt back down completely over her bump, despite his protests.

She shifted with her pillow against the headboard, making sure she was sitting up as straight as she could while still being comfortable as Keefe gave up in trying to get her to get back in the moment with him and croon over the baby.

He sat up and stretched, so Sophie gave him a few seconds before she said, "So, I've been meaning to ask you something. . ."

Keefe blinked and looked over at her, observing that she was wringing her hands rather tightly in her lap. "Uh oh," he said, "is it something bad?"

"I mean. . ." She licked her lips, trying to find good words. "You can take it either way. Good or bad. It all depends on you."

He frowned, propping his own pillow up against the headboard and scooched closer to his wife. Though, he still left a noticeable amount of space between them as he reached for her hand, bracing for whatever she had to ask.

"You and the baby are okay, right? There are no complications or anything?"

His voice was shaking slightly, and Sophie's lips twitched upwards. "Nutella and I are okay," she promised, causing Keefe to crack a tiny smile.

But it was gone and replaced with worry as quick as it had appeared on his face.

She blew out a slow and steady breath, calming her nerves as she shifted to sitting on her side so that faced him more. She grabbed both of his hands and intertwined them together, squaring her shoulders and looking him directly in the eyes as she asked, "I want to know if we should tell your dad."

His expression faltered and for a second she could see through the cracks and look at the glimpse of the pain Cassius had caused Keefe throughout his life. But it flickered away and the cracks sealed, taking away his real feelings on the matter.

His mask was put back up, concealing all the hurt and then he looked like a protecting, determined husband and father—though she knew him being protective or determined wasn't apart of his facade.

She didn't know if that made her feel better, or worried her further.

Keefe closed his eyes and squeezed her hands tight, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly. "You want to know. . . If we should tell him. . . About. . ."

Sophie nodded slowly even though his eyes were still closed. She knew he still was aware of her answer, even if he refused to open his eyes and look at her bobbing head.

"It's all up to you," she promised, pulling his hands to her face and pressing her lips to his knuckles. She kissed his hands until he opened his eyes and let out another shaky breath.

She was happy that he wasn't afraid to act. . . _Real_ around her. She knew part of him still tried to revert back to how he had been as a teenager, trying to bury everything and mask it over—but she knew the other part of him trusted and loved her and was trying his hardest to not push her away and to just let everything out.

He pulled his hands away and cupped her face, pulling her close and kissing her once, sweet and slow. Her eyes fluttered, half -lidded as he pulled back, yet managed to stay very near. She was almost used to the familiar warmth of his breath on her cheeks and nose—it was just natural.

"I don't want him to say things about you or criticize you—or our baby. He's just going to judge like he always does. And. . . I don't want to just allow him to hurt you or say things about you. You're my family and I love you and he can't just treat you like—"

She placed a hand on his heart, causing him to pause. He swallowed, his lashes brimming with hot tears.

"He doesn't get to do that to you, either. And, hey," she whispered, stroking his cheek with her thumb, "I was not saying that what he does is okay. I was merely wanting to know whether or not you wanted to tell him. This is half of you and I only wanted to make sure you didn't have any wishes to tell your family or not."

"Thank you," he croaked. "But he's. . . I don't consider him my family. _You're_ my family. This _baby_ is my family. We've built a family together and I love you so, _so_ much. And. . . He just doesn't deserve to be apart of your lives."

Sophie nodded kissing his cheek and pressing their foreheads together. "Okay," she agreed.

She flickered her eyes to his. "Can you _promise_ me you're okay? I didn't hurt your feelings or anything by asking you that?" she asked softly, still stroking his cheek lovingly as she stared him in his eyes.

Oh god, his gorgeous eyes.

Keefe nodded, despite their foreheads being pressed together. "You could never hurt me, Foster."

* * *

 ** **a/n: ugh, i'm beginning to**** ** _ **really**_** ** **hate my writing...****

 ** **like, i am honestly disgusted with the state of this fan fiction right now. blegh.****


	17. Chapter 17

**a/n: gotta say, it's pretty difficult going from writing the drafts in here to writing the ones in "love lies".**

 **( and, for those of you who don't know what "love lies" is, it's a sophitz story inspired by "say my name"! however, they do not have the same plot. this story and that story are actually** _ **very**_ **different—and not just because of the sokeefe and sophitz difference. )**

* * *

Keefe and Sophie decided that, to determine the sex of their unborn baby, they weren't going to go into the Women's Center like they previously had. Yes, the ultrasound there was breathtaking and her OB was nice, but they agreed that finding out if they were having a boy or girl was more of a private moment they wanted to share together.

Keefe requested a test from the Women's Center and picked it up from a chipper, ecstatic Dr. Mercado who made him promise to report back to her how the reveal had gone (if they were comfortable with sharing the news, of course).

When he got back to the house, Sophie was distracting herself by looking through catalogs for different items and furniture to go in the nursery/baby's room. She popped up from the nursing chair in the corner as quickly as she could manage with her belly, walking over and blinking at the test in his hands curiously.

Keefe explained that it was almost the equivalent of an NPIT—Noninvasive Prenatal Test—for humans. Except, instead of searching for diseases that the baby could possibly be born with, or having to draw blood in order to get the desired results, it was another urine-based test—like the pregnancy test.

Sophie had no idea how it worked, and she gave up trying to understand after Keefe tried telling her multiple times. She had learned that most of what she had learned with humans was entirely wrong, but she couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that elves had found the simplest way to determine the baby's gender.

Keefe said that some couples still decided that they wanted an ultrasound to see the baby again whilst learning the anticipated gender and Sophie could see where they were coming from. She enjoyed seeing her baby, but they'd already come to the conclusion that it was just going to be the two of them figuring out the sex.

You know, at first. Naturally they'd then leak the news to their family and friends.

Sophie went into the bathroom and took the test as soon as her body deemed possible (though it took downing a _lot_ of lushberry juice and Nutella was _not_ happy with sudden flood of fluids). Luckily, being very pregnant did not bode well with Sophie's bladder, so it didn't take too long.

Sophie went into the kitchen and started grabbing out random utensils and items, including (but not limited to) a baking sheet, and a large ice cream tub.

Keefe lifted an eyebrow, eyeing the spectacle cautiously. "Uhh, what are you doing? I mean, as adorable as you would look baking in that fluffy purple apron Biana bought you," —he walked up to her and placed a hand on her abdomen, kissing the tip of her nose— ,"don't you think this is not the time to start making cookies?"

Sophie shrugged. "I'm trying to keep myself occupied," was all she replied with. She didn't elaborate on what she was trying to keep herself occupied from, so he took it upon himself to assume it was the test.

"The test'll be done in just a few minutes," he argued.

"Well. . ." she stopped herself, letting out a sigh. "I know. I know it will. And, in that case. . . What do you want?"

He blinked at the sudden subject change, which amplified his worry lightly. He couldn't place a finger on what hot emotional wave was fluttering off of her, but it was heavy. "Um, you mean a boy or a girl?"

She bobbed her head up in confirmation, leaning against the counter to ease her aching back. Too much standing did _not_ end well. In fact it often ended in a lot of almost-unbearable pain and a restless night.

She rubbed her stomach tenderly as he answered, "This is going to sound cliché, but I really don't mind what gender they are. It's just. . . It's our baby. Either way I'll love them, take care of them, protect them. You know: the normal stuff. And there may be a bit of spoiling involved occasionally. . ."

The joke at the end earned an eye roll from Sophie. Well, half-joke, because she had no doubt that they would spoil the baby without even trying.

"Well, Mr. Indecisive, _I_ happen to want a boy."

His eyebrows shot up. "Woah, really?" he asked, shock seeping into his voice.

"Hey, just because _I'm_ a girl doesn't mean I must naturally need to _want_ a girl," she defended.

He grasped for the correct words. "No, no. I didn't mean it like that, I just. . . What's your reasoning?"

The room went silent and Sophie stared at him for a spell, putting both hands on her swollen abdomen. Her eyes reminded Keefe of gooey, sweet melted chocolate as she stared at him with some sense of adoration or affection.

"I. . . I would want him to be like you," she admitted softly, rubbing her stomach again. The confession swirled in Keefe's mind as if he were unable to grasp a hold of what she had said.

He blinked—which he had been doing a lot that day, for some reason—and swallowed, which cleared his throat. It was still thick as he said in a hushed tone, "Foster. . ."

She shook her head, her shoulder length blonde hair swishing with the motion. "You think you're such a bad person. You've let all the negatives comments in your life get to you. Don't you understand? Your family, your friends: we all love you. Our words and comments are the ones that count, the ones that matter. I _love_ you and. . . I want this kid to be like you. I know you want anything but that—because that's part of the reason why you didn't want to have kids with me—but. . . You need to see that you are not _bad_ , Keefe."

His eyes started to sting and he was very aware of the fact that if she kept talking like that, his eyes were going to turn blurry with tears.

She walked up in front of him, reaching for his hands as his stomach clenched. "You're a real sap when you try, you know that, Foster?" he asked weakly.

She gave an equally weak smile. "I'm not just saying these things to say them. You hear me?"

He nodded, unable to speak. Her lips quirked with a smile as she stared at him and they stayed that way for almost a full minute. Then she snapped out of the moment.

"Time's up, isn't it?"

Keefe slipped one hand out of hers, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his Imparter. He turned it on and glanced at the time. "Mhm." He looked back at her, pulling a smile onto his lips as he reminisced the moment they had just shared. He couldn't tell if he likes breaking it up or if he wanted it to continue.

He had felt a little awkward because she had voiced his silent concerns, but. . . It also has felt good to start to be open with her.

"You ready?" he asked, holding on tightly to her hand to show he was right there with her.

She nodded without hesitation. "Let's do it." She tugged his hand excitedly, beckoning for him to follow her to the bathroom.

He laughed, shoving his Imparter back into his pocket and walking alongside his petite blonde wife. He felt the giddy waves radiating off of her and watched as her lips pulled into the smile she had been trying so hard to contain. Seeing her so happy placed a warm, bubbly feeling inside him and a small surge of electricity shot through him.

Dang it, he loved her way too much.

Their hands severed from one another's grasp once they reached the bathroom, Keefe placing a hand to the small of her back as they entered, approaching the counter.

Sophie had a blush tinting her cheeks as she grabbed the test off the counter, not turning it over right away. "You want to do the honors?" she offered.

"I mean, you're the one carrying the kid for nine months. I'd rather like to think that you should open it."

She let out a small, breathless laugh. "I think I'll live. You turn it over for us, okay?"

At the hesitation in his eyes, Sophie added, "I think Nutella wants you to."

He rolled his ice eyes at how she clearly thought the use of the nickname was funny, taking the test gingerly in his palm. "Alright, ready? One. . ."

He rubbed the small of his wife's back with his free hand.

"Two. . ."

She fluttered her eyelids, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Three."

* * *

 ** **a/n: i fully meant to give away the gender in this chapter but then i kept writing and i got lazy soooo now you have to wait until next chapter? sorry lol****


	18. Chapter 18

**a/n: writing this and** _ **love lies**_ **at the same time is really messing with my brain. i temporarily forgot how far along i made sophie in this story.**

* * *

Keefe took off his cape, slipping off his soft brown shoes and walking into the living room, laying it across the back of the couch without a second thought. He had been fully ready to begin to find Sophie, change into pajamas, grab a snack, and start on his paperwork when he caught sight of a head full of blonde hair.

He smiled to himself in adoration of his wife, leaning over the back of the couch and planting a kiss to the top of her head.

"Hey," he greeted, grinning as he looked down at her. She popped her head backwards, looking up at him for a moment and returning his smile before she looked down to her lap for a brief second. She readjusted her position leisurely and cautiously, her eyes trained on her lap or belly—Keefe couldn't tell which—and she peered back at him once more. "Are you going to stand there and make me continue to struggle and look back at you? This is pretty uncomfortable."

Keefe ruffled her hair and went around the couch, noticing the bowl of gnomish produce on the floor near the coffee table that Sophie had her feet rested out on, like a stool. He frowned when he realized it was the special blend that his in-laws (or Grady and Edaline. Whatever) used to switch animals over to vegetarian-based diets.

"What's this fo—"

His question was cut short as his ice blue eyes landed on his answer. He tightened his jaw to keep it from dipping in surprise as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

Laying on top of Sophie's plump belly had to be the skinniest kitten he had ever seen. It was entirely skin and bones, its spine and hips on display. Keefe noticed the cat's head was permanently cocked slightly to the side like it had been hit, and its lower jaw was off center from its upper jaw.

The kitten let out the tiniest raspy squeak noise in the universe, rubbing its head lovingly against Sophie's chest as his wife returned the gesture by petting its black coat. Its green eyes were vibrant as they blinked and settled on Keefe, finally noticing the new person.

The cat let out another peculiar squeaking noise and Sophie smiled sheepishly at Keefe's baffled expression. "She was outside and it looked like she'd been hurt. And she's really skinny—I was afraid she was starving. Look at how small she is," she defended, running her fingers along the kitten's back. Keefe watched as Sophie didn't even try, yet her fingers dipped in both sides of the kitten's spine. It looked as if Sophie could tighten her hold and pick up the small cat entirely by the bone.

Keefe cringed as she continued, "I think her voicebox is crushed, too, which is why she can only make such little sounds. That would make sense with the way her head is titled, too. She must have got into some awful accident and it did some damage to her. She healed, quite obviously, but I can imagine she's still in pain from time to time."

The cat was completely focused on Sophie, making the tiny high-pitched noises and rubbing its head against her. Every once in awhile the cat would stoop her head low and sniff Sophie's swollen abdomen as if she knew that there was a baby inside.

"They're. . . A she?" Keefe asked curiously, not missing how attentive the kitten was being to his wife.

Sophie nodded. "At least, I'm assuming. I figured males would be bigger, for her breed. And fluffier. I. . . Liked to watch a lot of animal planet stuff when I was younger and I occasionally read some informational animal books in the small San Diego library. Of course, I've read some over at my parent's, too.

". . .Which brings me to what's weird with this cat. This doesn't look like a normal cat. There's something. . . Off about her that I can't place. Like someway that her body is shaped?"

Sophie shrugged as she gently scratched the top of the cat's head and moved under her chin.

Keefe pointed to the two fluffy, barely formed stubs on the cat's back which were parallel to one another. "How about those? Do those seem _off_ to you in any way?"

Sophie frowned. "Oh, yeah. What are those?"

He smiled brightly, surprised that she hadn't come across a wild one over at Havenfield. "Wings," he answered. "They'll develop more over time, but for now. . . They're little stubs."

Sophie giggled as the black cat settled down on top of her stomach, getting comfy and snuggling in. "That's so cute. I can't wait to see them."

Keefe's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "You're keeping her?"

Sophie's cheeks heated. "Look at her. She's so skinny and she looks like she was really hurt. And she's really sweet. Did you know she follows me around? It's almost weird. She acts sort of like a dog. She'll follow me wherever I go. I almost tripped over her a couple of times."

Keefe had to laugh at that. He reached over and stroked the kitten's glossy fur. "What a little ankle biter," he crooned. "Did you give her a bath or something? "

The blonde shook her head. "I gave her some elixirs. . . And a little bit out of a Bottle of Youth. . ."

Keefe chuckled as the kitten made some sort of strange crackly sound. "She is very sweet. But we have a baby in the way. Are you sure we can handle an animal?"

"She's a cat," Sophie defended, gesturing to how the creature was sitting docile and calmly on the top of her belly, purring as Keefe pet her.

"True, but. . . We'd have to get her checked out by a vet. Or your parents. And we'd have to get her some basic stuff like a food and water bowl. Maybe even a cat bed. . ."

Sophie giggled. "Is it just me or do you seem excited for this?"

Keefe smiled warmly, rolling his eyes. "I mean, she's _extremely_ tame and she seems like she'd be good with kids, but. . . I don't know. There's a lot of stuff running through my head. Like, who would take care of her when you went into Birth Center— _if_ we keep her? And _after_ you have the baby?"

"After I have the baby, we'll get to see our little boy and we'll have a tiny cat. I can manage a cute animal that follows me around. Is it that bad to imagine? Us sitting together with our kid, the cat at our feet? Look at her—she's not a troublemaker."

The kitten _was_ definitely the exact opposite of a troublemaker, but Keefe was too focused on the fact of how Sophie could say three little words that could affect him so much: _Our little boy_.

They were having a baby boy.

He still couldn't believe it, even though he had been the very one to flip over the test in that bathroom. And even after discussing boy names and a theme for the nursery and hey were going to tell everyone the big news, he had an extremely hard time coming to terms with the fact that they were having a boy.

Sophie's wish had come true, and he was as nervous as ever to how he would approach raising him like a good father.

"I think we could try it," he finally agreed after a spell of silence. "We'll just. . . have to be careful, I guess? I don't know. I just feel like I'm gonna accidentally let the cat out and she'll run. Or I'll forget to feed her or something."

Sophie laughed. "Lucky for you, I've already owned a cat once in my life and I can keep you from making mistakes," she teased. "But, seriously, it's really nothing to worry about. She's just a cat. We can handle a cat. Even one with wings."

Keefe looked down at the black cat laying soundly on Sophie's pregnant belly. "Alright. But if she eats my shoes, I'm blaming you."

* * *

 ** **a/n: i added a cat in because i'm a sucker for cute animals.****


	19. Chapter 19

**a/n: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ ALL OF FLASHBACK.**

 **MAJOR SPOILERS.**

 **YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

* * *

Sophie sat on the couch, watching Keefe across from her. He was petting the cat, completely oblivious to the entire world living on around him. Every so often, the cat would playfully nip at Keefe's fingers and he would recoil.

She watched them curiously, smiling at the dopey quirk of Keefe's lips. Here she had been the one who had needed to convince him that they should keep the cat, yet he was the one who tended to pay the most attention to the tiny animal.

True to his word, the cat's curious wings seemed to bud, in a way, prickling out and blossoming with feathers and growing bigger than the stubs it had arrived with. It was weird for Sophie to look at a cat with wings, and hard for her brain to process, but she figured it wasn't any different from her pet imp or even Silveny and her family.

Sophie had brought that up one day when Keefe had chuckled and asked her why she was looking at the cat with such a weird expression, asking her what the purpose of her face was. In response, she'd thrown a pillow and had proceeded to tell him that it was just flat-out weird for her. Naturally, he'd teased her about it and had given her many points on why it shouldn't be weird and wasn't, and she'd given in and admitted that it was normal.

Normal. Ha.

Keefe looked up from the cat eventually, finally giving her a slice of his attention, and he seemed to notice the fact that he had been utterly taken by the cat for a few solid minutes. His cheeks flushed with a light hue of pink and he straightened up as Sophie smiled knowingly. "What's up?" he asked after clearing his throat.

"You seem to be getting along," she teased.

"Hush," Keefe commanded with a roll of his eyes. He stepped away from the cat, who shot him a look in protest, walking over to his wife and taking a hand. "You feeling okay?"

"No," she mumbled, not even daring to try and hide it. This wasn't something she wanted to hide - pregnancy sucked. Sure, she'd had some high times. She'd had the cute little moments where she got to feel her baby kick and watch Keefe adorably coddle over her. But what she got the most of was throwing up any food she ate, constant nausea and headaches, tons of backpains, and plenty of practice contractions. Not to mention, she was sore in places she hadn't thought she'd be sore, but now. . . It made sense.

It made really, _really_ annoying sense to hurt in those places.

Her pain was not something she was in the mood to cover up. She was very, very eager to hop onto the complaining train and not stop until sundown. Or, until she had the baby. Or. . . maybe even a little while after that.

Keefe hummed a little in confirmation, nodding and squeezing her hand. "You were in the bathroom a lot last night," he noted, eliciting an eye roll from Sophie. "Don't even go there," she mumbled miserably, face flushing lightly. It wasn't like getting sick while pregnant was some secret, but it was definitely an overlooked piece. Every single movie she'd ever seen involving a pregnant woman would show her running into the bathroom, throwing up once, then proceeding to go change into overalls with her little baby bump and prance around. Or, even if they did get it close to accuracy, they'd mess it up later on by acting as if her sickness had gone away after the early months.

It definitely did not just go away, no matter how much the media was convinced that you threw up in your early weeks and then it was over.

"I hate throwing up," she grumbled.

Keefe chuckled, kissing her cheek. "I don't think anyone likes that, babe."

"Well, I especially don't," she decided, giving Keefe's hand a squeeze before walking over to the couch and sitting down. All that she really wanted to currently was curl up and pass out. She really needed sleep, but she had a feeling that even if she tried, she wasn't going to get any. She swore her baby just knew when she was about to fall asleep, because everytime she was on the brink of getting some rest, he'd decide to send a wave of nausea rushing through her or kick and shift like hell. He was trouble, to say the very least.

 _There's probably more of Keefe in this kid than anything_.

Keefe came over and rested his hands on the back of the couch, staring down at Sophie. Sophie knew he still had a ton of work to do, but she didn't want to scold him about it. As much as she knew that he needed to get it done, she was going to be selfish and keep him for the day. His work could wait, because she needed a lot of cuddles and consoling.

Sophie opened her mouth to ask him to sit down, when a blaring cry was sent through her head. She squeaked, trying to allow her brain to catch up with the rapid fire transmissions being sent to her by a voice she hadn't hear in a very long time.

SOPHIE! MISS! VISIT! HURT?

Silveny, she gasped as Keefe ran around to the front of the couch dropping down in front of her. Is that you?

 _SOPHIE! SOPHIE! HURT? VISIT! NOW! HURT?_

 _I'm not really hurt, I'm just sick. But it's normal-_

 _SICK. VISIT!_

"What?" Keefe asked in alarm. "What is it? Come on! Tell me. What's happening?" The worry that filled his voice was enough to make her gush, but she pushed it aside, taking his hands and allowing him to help her up off the couch.

"I think Silveny's here," she said, heart still pounding erratically in her chest.

Keefe's eyebrows shot up and the cat - who was pacing behind him - had its ears pricked backward, eyes large and alert. Keefe and Sophie seemed to take that as their definite answer, both walking towards the door as fast as they could. "Why would she randomly decide to come here?" Keefe asked, walking alongside Sophie to ensure she didn't clumsily trip on her way to the door.

"She knew I wasn't feeling well, but I don't know why she's just choosing to randomly pop into my head and say hello - or our yard."

When they reached the door, they flung it open without hesitation, smiles stretching effortlessly on their faces as their eyes met the family waiting outside.

As promised, Silveny was in the yard, giddily clopping around the grassy knolls without a care. Silveny was full of exubricant energy as she noticed Sophie and Keefe and came bolting towards the door, eagerly sniffing and whinying.

Keefe instinctually blocked Sophie with his arm, just in case Silveny didn't stop in time and managed to plow through Sophie. Even though it wouldn't have made much difference or manage to protect her in any way, Sophie still smiled at the gesture. She beamed down at Silveny, whose eyes were wild with excitement as she sent a million crazed transmissions into Sophie's head. Silveny nuzzled Keefe's arm which was still in front of Sophie and he pulled back, rubbing Silveny's glittery nose.

"Calm down Glitterbutt," he laughed softly. "Don't push Sophie around too much."

Silveny focused her attention entirely on Keefe for awhile, soaking up his attention and stroking before turning to Sophie, ready to show the same enthusiasm and love to her. Sophie laughed happily as Silveny snorted, and she reached up and combed her fingers through the glittery horse's mane. The threads were like icicles, cool to the touch and just as shimmery as Sophie had remembered.

 _Hi_ , Sophie greeted.

 _SOPHIE!_ Silveny replied, happy to recieve a transmission in return, finally. _SOPHIE! VISIT! MISSED! HI!_

 _I missed you, too_ , she admitted, switching to rubbing her velvety cheek. _How have Luna and Wynn been?_ she asked, peering around to take a look at the other two alicorns. They looked just as healthy and sparkly as their Mama, which Sophie was glad to find, so she beamed at them before focusing back on Silveny.

 _GOOD! GOOD!_ she promised.

 _That's good_ , Sophie said. I have something to tell you, though. I don't know if you'll fully understand.

She knew that Silveny understood the concept of a baby - but she wasn't sure how she would explain that it was not only hers, but Keefe's as well. Silveny seemed to understand the whole family idea, but Sophie wasn't sure if Silveny really knew the term Dad or Mom. Sure, she was one herself, but Sophie could guess that she probably didn't call herself Mom in her head.

Silveny, however, seemed to be one step ahead, pushing forward and nudging Sophie's abdomen with her nose. Sophie sucked in a small breath at the pressure the alicorn exerted, chuckling a little. "Careful," Sophie warned.

 _SOPHIE?_ Silveny asked, eyes wide.

 _It's okay_ , Sophie promised, calming the alicorn and shutting down her worrying. _It's a baby._

 _BABY?_ Silveny asked and Keefe let out a small laugh beside Sophie, beaming. His hand was on Silveny's side, stroking her shimmery fur, and Keefe explained, "I felt a little jolt of enthusiasm there." He shared a look with Sophie, seeming to understand that Sophie was explaining everything to Silveny. "Does she get it?" he asked.

Sophie nodded. "I think so, yeah."

 _BABY,_ Silveny repeated, calling her attention by stamping a hoof.

 _Yes_ , Sophie agreed, mouth twitching at the corners. _I have a baby. And unlike you, I'm not hiding a second one._

 _BABY!_ Silveny exclaimed, seeming to have giddily latched onto the word. _BABY BABY BABY!_ That was all that she seemed to want to transmit after that and Sophie giggled, tenderly continuing to pet the alicorn. She didn't care if Keefe called her a sap, so she allowed her eyes to well up with tears, letting every old, distant memory of Silveny's pregnancy come back to her. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all. She could handle a few sick nights if she knew that Silveny was always there ready to reach out.

 _I didn't think of telling you_ , Sophie said. _I didn't want to bother you guys. I had no clue where you were._

 _MISS! VISIT! BABY OKAY?_

 _Baby okay_ , Sophie assured. _Baby okay._


	20. Chapter 20

**a/n: this took me too long to update and i've missed it.**  
 **but with me not updating since the beginning of humanity i forgot everything lol.**

 **also keefe is the literal embodiment of this song and i love it lmaooo**

* * *

 ** **warnings;****

 ** **1\. MAJOR FLASHBACK SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER! YOU CANNOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ ALL OF FLASHBACK, JUST LIKE IN THE LAST CHAPTER! (SORRY)****

 ** **(AND LEISAN AGAIN IF YOU READ THIS AND SPOIL IT FOR YOURSELF I WILL PERSONALLY BEAT YOU)****

 ** **2\. this chapter contains a curse lmao.****

* * *

When Sophie asked Keefe when he wanted to paint the baby's room, it was ultimately laughed off.

And then he realized she was serious.

It wasn't that he didn't want to paint the nursery, but it would take a lot of work. They'd have to tape around the windows and put tarp down and actually settle on a colour that would match the theme of the furniture and. . .

Well, they'd have to move out the furniture they'd assembled in there. Or at least put it far away from whatever wall they were painting.

When Keefe brought the issue up to Sophie, her face darkened with a deep, rosy blush instantly and she had to keep herself from smiling. "Oh no," she whined, laughing a little when Keefe started cracking up. "I forgot about that."

"It's okay. We can work it out."

And they did. They decided to simply move what was inside the room to the opposite end during the time they would paint one wall and allow it to dry, and rotate and repeat until all the walls were finished. It was going to be a much more grueling process than they would have liked, but it would be something to remember, that was for sure.

And that wasn't where it ended. Keefe had been planning to surprise Sophie for awhile, but he just didn't know when. And he realized that they would need some help painting, so it was a perfect time anyway.

Together, Sophie and Keefe picked out a pale colour for the room. It had some sort of calming affect to it, and Sophie was very enthusiastic about it, so he chuckled and nodded along, telling her he thought it was wonderful.

Sophie was ecstatic and so they set to work right after ordering the paint, going up to the nursery and prepping it for the painting. They put the tarp down along the floors and they taped around the windows with the blue tape. Occasionally, Keefe would mess with Sophie and stick tape to her in random places.

She caught on when tape appeared on her butt. Or, more accurately, when Keefe failed at trying to sneak a piece of tape onto her ass.

Actually, slap was a better word.

The moment the paint arrived, Sophie excitedly lifted it up the stairs with her telekinesis and pulled Keefe away from his work, shoving a paintbrush in his hand and telling him to change into something he didn't mind getting dirty.

He noted that she'd dropped what she'd been working on, too - petitioning the Council to start up the Human Assistance Program again and offering her services - and had went to change herself. She looked absolutely adorable in the shirt and overalls she'd changed into and he couldn't get it out of his head, no matter how long he stared at her.

She whined at him for it, ushering him to hurry up and go change so that they could paint and he laughed, grabbing the paintbrush and walking off. He did end up changing, despite not really wanting to, and when he came into the nursery Sophie had uncapped the paint and had already dipped her brush into it.

But she was clearly waiting for him.

He held up his arms when she finally noticed him approaching, waving around the flappy short sleeves. The shirt was extremely big and baggy, even on him, and he couldn't even begin to remember how they had gotten ahold of the thing.

Or why Sophie enjoyed sleeping in it, sometimes.

When they set to work, Sophie was bouncy and full of energy, brushing up and down the walls with a giggly attitude, laughing and smiling about anything and everything. She was chatting Keefe's ear off the whole time, too, and he felt bad that he couldn't fully engage himself in her conversation when she was clearly very excited about it.

He just couldn't stop looking at the clock, counting down to when her surprise would happen. Or arrive.

"Babe, are you even listening?"

Keefe snapped out of it, realizing he'd been completely blocking her out, even while thinking about how he didn't want to be completely blocking her out. "Sorry," he apologized.

She rolled her eyes, scoffing. "I don't know why I put up with you."

Keefe smiled at her dramatics and the fact that she was so quick to dismiss him. He reached over with the hand that didn't have paint stains on it, ruffling his wife's hair and stepping back to avoid any backlash for the action.

Instead of sending an angry punch, she whined, grumbling about how he'd messed up her braid as he waltzed back over to the paint can full of brushes and pale paint. He bent over, grabbing a paint brush and dipping it into the dripping substance, moving himself over to the tarp against the wall as he began to paint the walls. He brushed the paintbrush up and down, stroking the soft colour against the walls and listening as he heard Sophie dip her own paintbrush in and get back to the job. A smile settled on his lips and he couldn't contain it no matter how much he tried, and he reached the point of not caring. If she saw him grinning like an idiot and decided to tease him, so be it. He simply couldn't get over the fact that this was all happening.

He probably should have been well over the news by now, given he'd learned of the baby months ago, but his brain had still latched onto the word like it was something enchanting. Though, it really _was_ , if he was being honest.

He peered down the sides of the walls, seeing how much they had left to do, and then he snuck a quick glance at the door, his smile quirking at the corners of his mouth a bit more. He didn't know when they were going to get there, but he hoped it was soon because the sun was beginning to set. He also really hoped that Sophie would enjoy the tiny blast from the past - and the help.

He didn't know how he'd even convinced some of them to agree to come to their house and help out with painting - it had been a stretch with a few of them.

A few minutes later, his nerves were calmed when the doorbell chimed. Sophie turned around to look at him in confusion, focus completely diverted away from painting the wall. Keefe set down his paintbrush, walking over to her and pecking a kiss to her forehead when he felt waves of hot worry pummeling him. "It's okay," he promised. "You stay up here. I'll get it."

"But we don't know who it is," she reminded, grabbing onto his wrist to keep him from going. He smiled softly, not even minding the fact that she'd just smudged some of the paint onto his wrist.

"It's okay," he repeated, trying to assure her that everything was being handled. The last thing he wanted to do was worry her. That was actually the opposite of what he had wanted to achieve with this little visit.

"You keep painting with Nutella. I'll go get the door. And stop freaking out," he said, laughing a little. "I know who's at the door."

The thick sheets of worry she had been hurtling through the air at him seemed to become more muffled at that, though they were still dimly present as he exited the room and rounded the corner of the hall. He sped down the stairs to the door, grabbing the doorknob and whisking the door aside.

Keefe was met with five pairs of eyes and five smiles, equally as bright as his own. Though, Bo's was only a small quirk of his lip. However, Keefe was still very surprised to see him have that plastered on his face, nonetheless.

"Hey," he greeted, not really knowing what else to say. He stepped aside, beckoning them inside. No matter what he tried, he couldn't keep his eyes off of them as all five childhood bodyguards trailed in to the house.

"Sophie's upstairs," he announced, closing the door behind them. A part of him sparked with excitement, realizing they didn't even know that Sophie was pregnant. There was a tiny hint of guilt stabbing somewhere in him for not having gotten in contact with them sooner and informing them on the very big Revelation, but another part of him was just very happy to know that they were going to be equally as surprised as Sophie was.

He hadn't even done it intentionally. He'd just called them all up and had entirely forgotten to mention that they were expecting Nutella and had been for quite a few months now.

"We're painting the one room upstairs right now. Got started just a little bit ago. We taped up the corners and around the windows, and set down a tarp." He turned to Bo and Sandor. "You'll be good, though. The ceilings are much taller than that door," he said, a bit of a teasing tone in his voice as he waved his hand in a vague gesture towards the front door.

Bo snorted and Sandor smiled. "And I'm guessing she's not aware we're here?"

Flori smiled at that, already full well knowing the answer. Tarina perked up a little, too, sending a small nod to no one in particular as Keefe sheepishly shrugged. Nubiti watched as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Not yet, nope. It was meant to be a surprise."

He motioned for them to follow him up the stairs and he hoped they go the fact that they were supposed to be as quiet as they could to keep the surprise going for as long as it could last. "I actually have a surprise for all of you, too."

"And what might that be?" Tarina prodded curiously, clearly wanting more details.

"You'll see right away when we get up there. Just trust me," he promised, ignoring Sandor's small roll of his eyes. His lips twitched with a small smirk, realziing Sandor probably assumed they were walking into some trap Keefe had set. Lucky for them, he'd dropped that awhile back. Sophie had not enjoyed walking into those the first few months they were married and he'd been forced to leave the silly habit behind.

No matter how fun it was to see Sophie fume at him.

"So, Bo, how's Ro?" Keefe asked, eliciting a string of grumbles from Bo, which caused him to break into a bigger smile. "So I'll take it she's a wonderful queen."

"No, she is - and that's the issue. She holds her ground very well."

"I'd imagine," he said, chuckling a little. He turned around and nudged his chin in Sandor's direction. "And Grizel?"

"She's been asking about you and Miss Foster for quite some time. We've been doing well, though, if that's what you were wondering. Though, we do miss our charges."

"Aw, of course you do," Keefe said, his smile still on his face as they finally made their way to the level they needed to be on, and he started leading them down the different corridors. He turned around when they reached the door, stopping and sending them signals to keep as quiet as they could. He really hoped that this didn't backfire and that he didn't end up scaring Sophie so bad that she did something like go into early labour. She'd be one to do that.

Flori shot him a tender smile as he entered the room again, running a hand through his hair. Sophie turned around, sucking in a small breath and rubbing her stomach gingerly as her eyes met his, blowing out a tiny sigh of relief. "Oh my god," she grumbled. "You were gone for too long. I didn't know if something had happened."

He walked over and ruffled her hair again, eliciting more grumbling about her braid, to which he responded with laughter. "I'm fine. But I do have a surprise for you."

"Oh no," she said, scrunching her nose up at the shining of his eyes. "You're way too excited. What did you do?"

Keefe snorted, rolling his eyes while nonchalantly placing his hands in his pockets. "Just trust me for once."

"The last time I did that you ate half the cupcakes I was making, that you promise to help with, and I had to remake all of them," she retorted, quirking a scolding eyebrow at him as she set down her brush and rolled up her sleeves. His mouth twitched, adoring her in that moment and how cute she looked.

"That's a bad example," he defended. "That involves food. Every example that involves me and food is a bad example."

Sophie laughed a little at that, shaking her head as she ran her hand through her hair, tugging out her hair tie and beginning to messily braid it again. Keefe had messed it up too much to be saved, though, and she eventually just settled for tying her hair back in a sloppy knot so that it wasn't touching her shoulders or neck.

"Well, anyway, I think you're going to like this." He turned back to the door, trying to contain his smile. "You guys want to come on in?"

Sophie's eyebrows shot up immediately at the question and she looked to Keefe, opening her mouth to ask him a question, but he cut her off, shushing her. He was grinning from ear to ear, trying to calm Sophie, who was already reeling. He pointed towards the door as his answer and Sophie listened, watching intently and trying to peek out.

When they all walked in, Sophie's hand immediately went to her mouth after a small intake of breath. She seemed froze on the spot, unable to move from where her feet seemed to be glued. Her eyes were fluttering rapidly, eyelashes brimming with tears.

The bodyguards were all just as surprised as Sophie, some of their jaws noticeably dropping. Keefe couldn't help but smile almost proudly at the way that Sandor gave him a pointed look, lifting a finger in Sophie's direction as if asking him, _"Did you do this to her?"_

He nodded just as proudly as his smile, of course, and Sandor turned away, focusing on Sophie as he watched her with amusement and soft adoration.

Keefe enjoyed the spectacle of shocked faces for a few more seconds before turning his head and looking at Sophie at his side. He noticed how one hand was over her abdomen, and she was almost squeezing on her baby bump. He reached down and grabbed her hand tenderly, causing her to flinch but ultimately relax. Her hand came down from her mouth and she let out some tiny, muffled sound that sounded like a miniature choked sob. And when Keefe looked closer, he noticed her eyes welling up.

"You can't just do this to me," she whined to Keefe, wiping her eyes and looking back at her bodyguards. "I'm pregnant! You can't just. . ." She waved her hands wildly at the other people in the room, sniffling a little as she furiously wiped her eyes. A sob bubbled up in her chest as she turned to them, wiping her eyes again. "I'm sorry," she apologized, laughing a little through her tears. "I just. . . _Hi_."

Sandor smiled, greeting her with a very familiar, "Hello, Miss Foster," which only sent Sophie into more tears which she wiped away after laughing through them, beaming with pure joy.

The next few minutes were composed of Sophie giving and receiving a plethora of hugs. Flori and Tarina both took the time to ask her extensive questions about her pregnancy and even took the time to ask Keefe how it had all been going, too. Sophie caught up with all the bodyguards, trying to divide all her attention between them equally.

If Keefe was being honest with himself, it was actually really amazing to watch all the bodyguards gush in their own manners. Sophie had that affect on people, he noticed, somehow making them soften a little without even really trying. She had a way with words and the way she moved her body or made gestures that somehow carried some factor that melded the people around her into more reserved versions of themselves. And now, with her body in the pregnancy glow stage, it seemed to affect everyone twice as hard. She seemed so tender and timid and Keefe could barely look at her anymore without cracking a smile.

Sophie pulled him into the conversations as much as she could, though the attention was mostly on her, given the fact that she was the center of the surprise. Sophie stayed glued to his side, holding his hand or hooking their arms together and beaming up at him, making it clear that she was very thankful for the arrangement he'd set up. The bodyguards were all seeming to be equally happy, too.

When the question was brought up of the sex, Sophie nudged Keefe a little with her elbow, looking up at him and silently asking if he wanted to answer that one. And so he did, very gladly.

He told them about the test she had taken, but kept it simple and sweet at the most. Everyone said their congratulations repeatedly over the span of the conversation, and everyone had been content with continuing to talk until Sophie winced lightly.

"Sorry," she mumbled, trying to wave off Keefe, who was trying to make her face him. "Just practice contractions."

"That's been happening a lot," Keefe noted. "You sure it's that?"

"I know it's that," Sophie said firmly, nodding her head. She turned back to the guests, eyebrows knit with pain as she rubbed her stomach. "Sorry. I'm okay. You don't need to be freaked out or anything."

"When's your due date?" Sandor asked as respectably as he could, still clearly focusing on the fact how she did not seem as okay as she claimed.

"Mm, a couple weeks," Sophie said, blowing out steady breaths to try and take her mind off the pain. "May 25th. We're getting close."

"And you're sure you don't want a doctor to check you out?" Tarina asked softly. Sophie blinked at her, still rubbing her stomach and breathing heavily.

"You do never know," Flori added. "And if it is for his safety, you may want to consider it. However, if you feel you know what is going on with your body, then you leave it alone."

Keefe mentally cringed a little, not really have been meaning to make everyone provoke Sophie or urge her to do what he had suggested. But she nodded, bobbing her head in hesitant agreement. "I asked Elwin about it a few months ago and he came here and looked at me. It wouldn't hurt to do that again, though. Things could have changed."

Keefe could feel the worry that was beginning to amp up inside her and rush off her in crashing waves, so he took her hand and squeezed it, sending a few rippling blue breees to her to calm her. "It's okay, Foster," he assured. "I'm sure you're fine. Besides, you're a fighter. We know that."

Everybody cracked a smile.


	21. Chapter 21

"I never should have invited them over," Keefe suddenly teased softly, scribbling down upcoming events onto the freshly bought-and-unpackaged calendar.

Sophie was nearby, folding clothes in the living room while Ellie — the cat — roamed around at her feet, twisting in between her ankles and around in tiny figure eights. The little black cat purred as Sophie had been chatting, pausing every so often to giggle as Ellie would make a crackly purr. After a few seconds Sophie registered what Keefe had said and she cut herself off, eyes slowly narrowing.

He turned around to look at her when she had gone quiet, meeting her face that was filled with disappointment,and he laughed at her reaction. She had been talking his ear off for at least two days after he had invited the bodyguards over to the house, and even though it wasn't particularly annoying him, it was getting. . . Old to hear her constantly reminding him of 'that one time' that he had invited them over.

Don't get him wrong, he loved her and he loved talking to her. But if she kept bringing it up, his ears would eventually fall off.

"You're mean," she huffed dramatically, eliciting more laughter from him. She folded a few more clothes, stooping down as best she could to attempt to pet Ellie (which failed epically) and she gave up finally, waddling over to Keefe.

He smiled as she appeared at his side at the counter, curiously peering over his shoulder. Cheekily, he attempted to purposefully abstruct her view and she shoved his shoulder only half-playfully, whining at him to move. He chuckled and complied after a bit more persisting, and she adorably looked over with her huge, curious eyes.

"Okay, then, mister. What have you been working on for the past fifteen minutes?" she mused as she looked over the calendar.

Obviously, Sophie had been expecting it to be something unproductive and blatantly time-wasting, so her eyebrows shot up when her eyes settled on the little project.

"I was going through all of ours plans for the next month. I wanted to get it all written down - not that we have so much, though. We're not exactly booked." He ran his hand across the paper, showing her the three day slots that were actually filled in so far.

A smile flitted across her lips for a brief second, until her eyes trailed back to the calendar. They widened leizurely and Keefe watched, blinking his own eyes a little, wondering if she was upset.

She opened her mouth, trying to talk, and her voice only let out a little squeak. He saw there were tears brimming her eyelashes and he wanted to reach out and touch her in some attempt to comfort her, but he also didn't know if what she wanted in that moment was physical comfort.

Finally, Sophie croaked, "Is. . . this a heart?"

Keefe blinked rapidly, looking to the calendar, and his heart thumped a little harder against his ribcage when his eyes landed on the tiny red heart he'd sketched on the slot of her due date.

Sophie looked to Keefe, who flushed right on cue. Sophie couldn't contain her smile as Keefe struggled to gain composure and keep the level of red in his cheeks down, running a hand through his hair. "Maybe," he mumbled, the corners of his mouth twitching a little as he gazed down at her. The blush on his cheeks was slowly draining away and he pecked a kiss to the top of Sophie's head, regaining his casual confidence. "Are you, uh. . . Ready?"

Sophie arched an eyebrow at him, prying her eyes from the bright red heart. "Ready for. . ?"

She noticed Keefe's eyes flickered down to her belly and a little v formed in between her brows, triggering a tiny laugh from Keefe. "I mean, yeah, um. . . I mean, I don't know. Are you scared for. . ." He vaguely gestured to her stomach again, cringing at how he was poorly explaining everything.

That made Sophie crack a smile and she rolled her eyes, grabbing both of his hands, making him miraculously stop waving his hands at her abdomen. "Scared of labour?" she prodded, trying to narrow down whatever he was wanting to ask her.

"Yeah, sure," he agreed, bobbing his head. He started rubbing his thumb over her knuckles, his fingers fumbling as his hands began to nervously shake. Sophie looked up, smiling tenderly, trying not to let him catch her smiling the way she was. She didn't want him to feel discouraged or embarrassed by the way her mouth refused to

"I also, um. . ." Keefe blew out a shaky breath, turning over her hands so that he could massage the center of her palm with his thumbs. "Do you need me to do anything? I don't know, I'm kind of nervous. How is it going to work? It's getting pretty close. Don't you think we should get a bag together or something? And do you want me to stay in the room with you? I don't know if you'd like me to leave you alone or something or if you want me to be in there and hold your hand. . . All up to you, I don't mind anything. I just-"

Sophie slipped her hands out of Keefe's, abruptly breaking his concentration during his rant. It caused him to freeze up, stuttering as she reached up, brushing some strands of hair off of his forehead. "Hey," she whispered, trying to hush him. She wanted him to calm down for his own good, but she also couldn't deny the fact that just him being nervous was giving her anxiety. And that was making her stomach churn and her heartbeat pound in her throat.

"Of course I want you in there with me," she finally continued, eliciting a hurried flurry of nods from Keefe. He seemed relieved at that and a flicker of a smile appeared on her face. "We could make a bag," she added, answering some of his other questions. "We could put some stuff in there. Change of clothes, in case I stay overnight or something. And I'm not sure yet if I want anyone else in there. I love my parents - obviously - but I just kind of feel like. . . I'd like to wait? I'm not sure. Does that make sense?"

Once she directed the question to him, his eyebrows shot up and he nodded quickly, assuring her that he was on the same page as her. "Do you think you want them in there after?"

Sophie bobbed her head slowly, combing a hand back through her hair. "Yeah. I think I'd like to say hi first. In no offense to them, of course."

Keefe nodded, his stomach jumping a little at the words and the thought of it all. For some reason he still couldn't wrap his mind around all of this and the fact that Sophie's due date was getting so close so fast. Within two weeks at the least, he was going to get to see his son in life, get to hold him, talk to him, play with him, put him to sleep. . .

"You okay?" Sophie asked, squeezing Keefe's hand and drawing him from his thoughts.

He nodded in response, a faint smile grazing his mouth. He leaned forward in tune with putting his hands to the small of Sophie's back and gently tugging her forward, his lips meeting her forehead in a gentle kiss. "I love you," he said suddenly.

Sophie blinked, allowing her lips to curl upwards sweetly. "I love you, too, Keefe."

* * *

 ** **a/n: eyyyyyyy  
so uh  
this is almost over  
heh****


	22. Chapter 22

**a/n: hi don't read this it's word vomit i don't know why i post anymore**

* * *

Keefe found that his anxiety had heightened to incredible amounts in the following week - and he knew exactly why. Everytime Sophie could complain about those damned practice contractions or suck in a little breath or give off any other emotion other than her happy little waves, he'd freak. Everytime anything remotely out of the ordinary happened, Keefe's mind went into full siren mode, assuming Sophie was spontaneously going into labour. And his mind fell for it everytime - _anytime_ \- foolishly.

Sophie felt bad for him each time, whenever he'd bolt into the room that she was in or sit up straight in bed when she would grumble or wince in her sleep because Nutella had kicked. She'd offer him a tiny half-smile of sympathy, knowing it was all she could give him, and he'd slowly recoil. His face muscles would relax and he'd blow out a deep breath of relief, running a hand through his hair.

"I did it again," he'd say, exasperated.

Ultimately, they'd laugh together about it, but it was seriously begin to stress Keefe out. He was barely getting any sleep anymore - though, he had been getting less sleep than usual over the course of the few months, starting right back when Sophie had announced she was pregnant.

Keefe tried so many things to destress. And in the end, even hanging out with Silveny didn't work all too well - he knew Silveny really wanted to see Sophie. And whenever Keefe saw Silveny just because he knew she was thinking about Sophie then it got him thinking about Sophie and then he was worried for Nutella and his due date and. . .

 _Everything_.

The only thing he could do - that worked half-decently - was make some form of art. Though, that was still iffty. In its own way, it could manage to annoy him, given the fact that sometimes he'd drift off thinking about Sophie and Nutella and he'd _totally_ mess up the entire picture he had been working on for the past hour or so - but who was counting?

It was more calming than pacing around thinking about how any moment now could be _that_ moment. And way more calming than having Silveny nudge him towards the house every five seconds, clearly asking if Sophie was going to come out to play.

Nutella's due date came around faster than expected and Keefe was -ractically walking on pins and needles for the entire morning, realizing that they were so close. Any day - any second - could be that moment, now.

Sophie saw it in him after they had breakfast, so she waved him off, dismissing him for a few hours. "Have fun. Paint something nice. The walls need some decorating anyway."

And decorate he did. He managed to sit down and make about four different paintings of scrambled scenery from his memories before the clock struck noon. As soon as he got to his fifth painting, his nerves actually started to steady a little and his hand didn't shake as much as he filled in the little details.

He'd been in the room for hours, so it didn't really surprise him when he heard a tiny, "Hey Babe."

Keefe peered around his easel and painting, meeting the brown eyes of his wife. Even though he'd technically been taking a break from her, it still felt amazing to get to see her again. It wasn't like they'd been separated for too long, but he'd still missed her in that tiny time. And the more he got the thinking about it, he realized being away from her was probably only going to add to his stress - after all, he was basically a watchman at this point. Couldn't have her going into labour without him being around.

So, Keefe smiled tenderly at her, making a waving motion. "Come over here," he beckoned, beaming.

Sophie took her time, looking at the tarp that covered his floor and the stacks of papers over on his writing desk in the corner and the drying paintings lined up against the wall. When she finally did make it over, Keefe grabbed her hand and tugged on it until she bent over hesitantly. He pushed himself up a little, allowing himself to peck a kiss onto her cheek.

The colour turned rosy under his mouth and he grinned in satisfaction when he pulled away. He loved seeing her all flustered. "How's my favourite wife doing?"

She gave him a skeptical look before slowly looking around the whole room for something. "I hope you mean _only_ wife," she corrected. After that her eyes landed on what she needed and she let out a tiny, "Hm," before walking over to the item. Keefe watched as she latched onto a wooden stool he had had placed in the corner of the room. She dragged it over to him at her own, steady pace, eventually coming to a stop right beside him.

"Teach me," she said, sitting down on the stool.

" _Teach_ you?" he repeated incredulously, grabbing her hand as she sat down, ensuring that if she managed to fall over, he had some support system for her.

Sophie bobbed her head, nudging her chin in the direction of the half-finished painting in front of him.

Keefe looked at her in a baffled manner and Sophie scoffed.

"Oh, don't act so surprised. I'm not _that_ bad."

That elicited an eruption of laughter from her husband, and he reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You know I didn't mean it like that. I'm just surprised that you want to give it a go. We've been married for thirty-four years now, and you've never once shown an interest in this." He waved his blue-dipped paintbrush at the canvas in front of him.

"Thirty-five years," Sophie corrected cheekily, smiling brightly. Keefe flushed a little at that, but Sophie barely noticed as she stared and observed his painting.

She was looking at the blue, rippling body of water he'd been working on. She seemed impressed - though, she always was, for some reason. He always got showered with these compliments from her that he didn't understand. Surely anyone had the ability in them to paint a damned lake.

Though, Sophie claimed otherwise.

Sophie pulled him from his branching thoughts by continuing, "But, really, I'd like to try. You can't laugh, though."

Keefe made a tiny sound, almost a half-laugh. "That's what the white paint is for. You can make as many mistakes as you want." Keefe grinned, standing up and changing the canvas to a blank one, setting aside the one that he had been painting on. Sophie peered at over at it with admiration and curiosity glimmering in her eyes as he got out some new paint tubes. There she was doing it again, looking at his art as if it was something all-too special.

He turned red on the tips of his ears at that, wondering what he'd done to even deserve someone like that. No matter what he did - stupid or otherwise - Sophie still managed to treat him like he was this amazing person so deserving of love. even though he had other opinions, Sophie managed to. . . Make him feel so needed and important in any way.

He cleaned off his brushes quietly, hoping that the faint blush of his was going down as he occasionally peeked out of the corners of his eyes to watch as Sophie tenderly rubbed her stomach.

After Keefe's blush situation had dimmed and he had gathered everything — including one of his paint shirts — he came over and set down the supplies, motioning for Sophie to lift up her arms as he held out the shirt. Sophie complied and he gently put it over her head, pulling down and making sure her arms went through the two sleeves.

Keefe sat down beside her, a tiny v forming between his brows as he felt some tight, wound tugging. It was as if there was some invisible string connected between their two abdomens — and Sophie's was tugging on his.

"You good?" he asked, realizing this was probably something near what she was experiencing. Much less intense, though.

She bobbed her head, rubbing her stomach. "It's just a little. . . Tense? Tight? It's uncomfortable is all. Not hurting, but almost. . ."

"Annoying to have to live with?" he offered with a twitch of his lips.

Sophie rolled her eyes — but she was smiling. "Yeah, I guess. I'm just wanting to be done is all."

Keefe nodded in understanding, feeling deep sympathy for her after all he'd witnessed over the past few months. it definitely hadn't been easy for Sophie, and he felt terrible for her - and any other mothers who had to carry a child. It wasn't like how movies portrayed it. Or how it had sounded when he'd had it explained to him as a kid. It had all been majorly glossed over.

Keefe rose his eyebrows, pointing over to the calendar hanging up on the wall. It was posted directly over his work desk, which had papers scattered all over. "Well, lucky for you. . ."

Sophie's eyes landed on the red heart again and she couldn't contain her smile when she bashfully looked to the floor, shaking her head. "Oh, I'm _fully_ aware of what day it is today. You've reminded me at least five times today."

Keefe's mouth twitched at that and he grinned proudly, reaching over and taking Sophie's hand. He pushed the paintbrush into her hand with a tiny wink. "Hey, all I'm saying is that I'm hoping one of the Foster-Sencen's can finally be on time for something."

Sophie snorted, lips curving lightly at the remark, knowing exactly what he meant. Everytime any plans were made, the two of them somehow managed to be late for it, no matter what it might be. Even if they were the ones who planned it all, they could manage to show up late. "That would be a first," she mumbled teasingly, shaking her head softly. Sophie shifted, straightening her posture and turning to Keefe, raising the volume of her voice so that she was actually speaking directly to him. She cleared her throat. "Honestly, though, you're a liar."

Keefe's eyebrows shot up at that and Sophie giggled lightly, bending over and dipping her paintbrush into some yellow paint. She ran it through some paint thinner on a nearby tray, which made Keefe cringe a little. He opened his mouth, almost completely forgetting the weird comment, and he was about to tell her that she was supposed to use the paint thinner first on the canvas before she cut him off.

"You are _not_ ready because you freak out anytime I do _anything_ ," she explained. "You think I'm going into labour every living second the day."

Keefe scrunched his nose, making a face, and Sophie laughed at him, brushing her brush across the canvas. "Well, it's true."

"Just because it's _true_ doesn't mean you have to call me out," he said defensively, reaching over and grabbing the paintbrush from her hand. She gaped at him, trying to reach over and snatch it back, but he held it high above his head. He waved his head back and forth, indicating he wasn't going to give it back, and she looked like she wanted to huff.

"You did it wrong," he chuckled, gesturing to the canvas. "Paint thinner goes on first."

Keefe smiled as Sophie flushed. He laughed, setting down the paintbrush in a nearby cup of water. He swished it around, cleaning it off, before he picked up a towel and wiped off his hands, beaming at Sophie. He nudged his head in the direction of the bathroom outside in the hallway. "Can you go get another towel?"

She gave him some incredulous look like she was shocked he'd asked her to do it, and he held up the very-dirty towel currently in his hands, which was covered in paint. "C'mon," he urged.

Sophie huffed in annoyance, hoisting herself up and rubbing her stomach. "Oh, sure - ask the pregnant woman to get up and get it for you."

Keefe shrugged sheepishly, chuckling as he watched Sophie waddle away. "I'm doing you a favor. You said you wanted to be done with all this - maybe a little movement might encourage Nutella to pop out."

Sophie had left the room at the point he had finished his sentence, but she clearly heard it as she called out to him from the bathroom - dissatisfied -, "Don't say that!"

"What?" he shouted back. "Don't say what? 'Popped out?'"

" _Keefe_ ," she scolded, voice growing closer. She re-entered the room, chucking the lilac towel in her hands at his face. He caught it in a bundle just before it smacked him, laughing. His eyes were glinting as she started making her way back over. "Do you not appreciate my choice of words?"

She narrowed her eyes at him as a warning when she got back to her wooden stool and she made sure they locked eyes before she sat back down. Keefe held up his hands in playful surrender, bending to the side opposite of her to grab a paint tube that was still open. He had a few laying around that he needed to close - especially before Sophie managed to step on one.

Keefe had been ready to tease her again once she got settled, but a second after she had sat back down she gasped.

Keefe turned to Sophie in slight alarm, eyes widening. "What is it?" he asked, when he met her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was biting her bottom lip, hands splayed over her stomach.

He hadn't felt any pain come off of her, so he wasn't quite sure what was going on, given the fact that she wasn't giving him any insight. He screwed the tube quickly as Sophie rocked a little, throwing it aside and trying to forget about it.

But then it dawned on him that that must have been it.

He winced, laughing a little. "Oh, Foster. Did you sit on one of the tubes of paint?" It was apparent that she had in fact sat on something, as she opened her eyes and started swiping her hand underneath her thighs and butt, a look of pure surprise on her face.

"No," she whispered, her voice light. "That's not paint." She said it with some tiny tick in her voice, almost like a whimper.

Keefe's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion and he leaned over, trying to see whatever it was that she had managed to sit in. At first he didn't see anything - which actually made sense, given the fact that he didn't really understand how the stool could be empty when Sophie got up, but then magically have something sitting on it the moment she got back. But then his eyes met the mixture of clear liquid streaming down her legs - which reminded him of the paint thinner - and the crimson colour staining the underside of her pants.

" _Oh_ ," he exclaimed when his mind finally pieced it together. He shot up from his chair, getting down in front of Sophie and grasping for her hands shakily. She let out a shuddering breath and he mirrored her, his own breathing going a little heavy.

This couldn't seriously be happening _now._

"I-It's fine," she promised, noticing the way he was already reeling, clearly on the verge of freaking out. On his knees, he lifted his shaky hands, cupping her face and frantically asking her if she was okay. "I'm fine," she assured, shivering lightly. She could feel her body beginning to move, though, and she wasn't so sure she was ready. "It doesn't hurt."

"You sure?" he repeated.

Sophie swallowed, legs beginning to shake a little. "We're fine. I-I. . . _Keefe._ "

"I know," he nodded, choking up a little. "Do we need to go? Are you good? God, we need to go. You want me to get the baby bag? I'll get it. Where did we put it? And where are the nexuses? Oh my God, I-"

Keefe got up off the floor without missing a beat, speeding out of the room to find everything that they had set aside for when the time had come. It seemed like it was happening now, and even though Keefe had been teasing Sophie relentlessly about wanting the baby today, he was so _not_ ready for this. For any of it.

He didn't want to leave Sophie unattended in the other room, especially given the fact that her water had just broke, but his body was buzzing. His mind was racing and he was going a million miles a minute, frantically searching all over their room for the bag.

Where was that goddamn bag when he needed it?!

He was down on his knees by the time he heard a tiny huff from behind him, and he nearly hit his head on the underside of the bed as he came out from under there, looking at who was standing behind him. Sophie had the bag in her hand, holding it out to him, other hand on her abdomen.

"What are you _doing_?" Keefe asked incredulously, standing up and taking it from her. "Why are you _walking?_!"

Sophie laughed a little at his reaction, still shaking from the intensity of it all. "I'm not in pain or anything. it's just tight. And it's not like Nutella is just gonna. . ." She made a vague, quick motion in between her legs, gesturing down to the floor. She cringed when she saw the fluid and blood trailing down her legs, though, and Keefe set the bag down on the bed, digging out the towel and two nexuses. He took long strides over to one of their drawers, taking out a new pair of sweatpants for Sophie.

He walked over to her, bending down and taking the waistband of her stained pants. His mouth broke into a small smile when she set her hands on his shoulders to help her balance and he noted she was still wearing one of his paint shirts, and was evidently going to be wearing it when they showed up at the Birth Center.

Oh, Eternlia, the _Birth_ Center.

Sophie lifted up each leg at a time, allowing Keefe to assist her in tugging herself out of her filthy pants and into new ones. Before the change he used to towel to help clean her legs off as best he could and then once she was in her new sweatpants and seemingly ready to leave, Keefe blew out a nervous breath.

He chucked the pants into the corner, near the laundry hamper, and Sophie gave him a look with one eyebrow raised, indicating that he would be picking that up when they got back. Keefe packed everything up into the baby bag and then took Sophie's two wrists, tightening the nexuses onto them.

Even though they'd rehearsed this two times prior (Sophie had explained she didn't feel comfortable leaping with Nutella without some extra help) Keefe's adrenaline was still rushing madly inside of him.

Keefe grabbed his pathfinder and Imparter and when he'd turned back to face Sophie, she had slung the baby bag over her shoulder and was holding out her hand. A nervous smile flitted across her lips and it made him feel way better knowing she was just as unprepared for this as he was. "Ready?" she asked.

He closed the gap between them, lacing their fingers together and pecking a quick kiss to her forehead. "God no," he promised, making the path of light on the bedroom floor.


	23. Chapter 23

When Sophie and Keefe got to the Birth Center, the first thing Sophie did was ask Keefe to hail everyone else whenever he was going to get the chance. He wasn't particularly surprised to hear it coming from Sophie, given the fact that he always had to be so considerate (seriously, how did she manage to do that?). But what _did_ surprise him was that she'd brought it up so quickly. They'd only just reappeared, fizzling into view in the front of the property when Sophie piped up, "Can you make sure to call them?"

He'd known immediately who she was referring to, and had looked her up and down, watching the way she rubbed her full stomach. Keefe nodded in a flurry, pecking a hurried kiss to her head before tugging her hand and making her follow him forward.

Throughout checking in and getting wheeled in to the hospital room and all set up, Sophie did not relent or stay quiet. She didn't take a moment to sit back and calm down, no matter how many times Keefe tried to respectfully shush her.

She asked him and the one doctor assigned to them how everything and anything was going to work - though, he guess he couldn't fully blame her for her curiously. She'd only read up on the process and had heard Keefe make a few immature jokes about it, but now she was going to be going through it herself. Living. And Keefe was, y'know, half-living it.

Keefe could feel the bursts of excitement and pure anxiety fluctuating off of Sophie as the doctor strapped a tin armband onto her wrist, which looked like a pure white, smooth nexus. Keefe tried to soothe her and tell her everything was going to be just fine and that he'd explain what it was, but his mind was reeling all the same. He'd heard about how it worked from the few moms he'd ask - namely Della and Edaline and Juline.

Okay, yeah, he'd gotten _all_ the moms together and had asked them all what the _fuck_ he was supposed to do and what was going to happen.

The doctor finally left the room after deeming Sophie 'ready' and Keefe could practically feel Sophie's heartbeat thumping in her throat when the door shut. She shifted on the bed, clearly feeling uncomfortable being in the hospital gown, laid back as far as the bed could go, special sheets blanketed below and under her legs. Her legs trembled against her own will when she tried to push herself back against the bed.

"Hey," Keefe warned softly, squeezing the hand that he was holding. "Probably not best to try and lay back right now."

"I can be in labor and lay back," she argued.

Keefe chuckled lightly. "I have no doubt you can do anything you put your mind to. But I said it's not _best_. It's easier to do this while you're sitting up - trust me. I read up on it. Everything's more aligned if you sit up. Please stop squirming so much."

She made a face as she looked down in between her legs and the fluids pooling. "There's going to be a lot more squirming, trust me."

"I think the doctor put you in that position so that you'd be more comfortable," Keefe argued gently, brushing the tops of her knuckles with his thumb.

Sophie finally gave in to the touch, stilling. "Speaking of the doctor," Sophie said, taking a few deep breaths while massaging her abdomen, "he didn't really fill me in on how this is all going to work, so I'm hoping you can help me out here."

Keefe could hear the way her voice was shaking with effort. He winced a little, realizing her body was probably shifting and squeezing down near her pelvis. Luckily, he knew it wasn't hurting her, but it didn't appear to be all that comfortable. "You'll be fine," he assured, feeling the waves of concern rush off of her. "You don't need a medical professional in the room for this."

"It's _optional_?" she asked in some sort of horror. He laughed as she made a face. He knew it must have seemed foreign to her, but it was still hilarious to see her so baffled by something that was common knowledge for him.

He reached over and tapped the bracelet on her wrist. "That's sending data back to them right now. It's basically scanning your body and checking your vitals and making sure you're not going to pass out or anything crazy. And when you dilate around 10 centimeters, it'll vibrate or light up and then you can start pushing."

"I don't think it's that easy. You can't just throw common sense out the window and say, "Oh, yeah - just push. Go crazy."

Keefe laughed at that, but his spine tingled a little as his body was fully adjusting to the fact that this was all really happening _right now_. In a few hours he was going to be able to hold his son in his arms. And Sophie and him would get to take him home. He'd get to see his baby.

"Do you want me to call the doctor back in here to guide you all through it? I took classes, though, if that makes you feel any better. That's actually why they give those classes, here. So you don't have to have a medical professional in the room, besides whoever you've chosen to stand by you."

Sophie's face bloomed with heat at that, and she asked, "When did you take a class?"

"That's irrelevant. What we're focusing on right now is this." He leaned forward and placed his hand on her swollen belly, smiling lightly. "Would calling them back in here make you feel more comfortable? We can do that, if you want."

Sophie placed her hand on top of Keefe's interlacing their fingers and exhaling long and heavy. Keefe's one eyebrow perked up when he felt a shifting motion come from inside her. "No, it's fine. Just. . . Keep me distracted for now, so I don't freak out?" she begged, smiling through a wince. She was clearly frazzled by the idea of this whole process and Keefe nodded, happy to give her a temporary distraction. She was still dilating, after all, so he could talk her ear off all he wanted. "Oh," she said suddenly, interrupting him before he could even get a word out. He closed his mouth, lips twitching with a smirk as she asked, "Could you hail them?"

Keefe finally took his hand off her stomach, delacing their fingers and lifting his hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. He laughed. "You need to stop freaking out about that. The doctors have already done that."

"They have?" she asked, to which Keefe nodded. He felt the feather-light doubt grazing his skin and he promised, "They've called everybody. They're probably in the waiting room. If not, Biana's dragged them all to some store to get you and him a gift. Then they'll come here and sit in the waiting room."

Sophie bobbed her head, squirming a little again before blowing out another breath. "And what did they teach you in that class?"

"Mmm, it was a lot of stuff. Like I said, it wasn't just one session. It was everything from how to clean off the baby, to how to even hold them. Um, there was also a lot of talk about basic anatomy and stuff. And then we talked about how to cut the umbilical cord and just perineal massages and-"

Sophie gasped softly, her toes curling and body tensing for a brief second. Keefe was about to ask what had happened or what she had felt when the bracelet around her wrist flickered briefly with a flash of light. Keefe rose an eyebrow and was about to ask if Sophie was okay, when the bracelet hummed and started glowing. Keefe's body went rigid for a second, only relaxing when Sophie squirmed herself into a more comfy position.

"Okay," Keefe said slowly, holding Sophie's hand tight. "Just breathe and. . . We'll go from there."

Sophie listened to Keefe and his shaky coaching, smiling a bit to herself at how nervous he was beginning to get. It made her feel better knowing she wasn't the only one freaking out over this.

It went well at first, and after a few minutes, Sophie looked down at herself partway through, brushing a hand over her abdomen with a slightly furrowed brow. She had to focus on breathing and pushing just enough - not too little, not too heavy. As time passed, Keefe seemed to get more confident in his observations and orders, and Sophie felt that she was falling behind. So, eventually she found the time to ask, "H-How are you so calm right now?"

Keefe flicked his eyes up to hers the moment she asked the question, blinking and pressing his eyebrows together. He was surprised he was coming off as even semi-calm to her - inside, he was actually really freaking out. His knees were shaking and his spine was tingling and he was shocked that his hands hadn't turned all that clammy, yet. Plus, with all of Sophie's talk concerning the doctor and if Keefe would be enough, he was beginning to doubt his abilities in that area, too.

But he coolly replied, "I don't know the exact reason, but I do think it's because I know that everything's going just fine." He shot her a smile. "And after I help you through this. . . We get to see him and name him and bring him home. . ." He chuckled lightly, perking up an eyebrow suggestively. "Silveny's going to find out, you know. And she's probably going to find the worst time to teleport over and bombard you two."

Sophie grumbled, which made Keefe laugh, his shoulders relaxing. He could do this. If Sophie could do this so well, and she was literally the one knitting together a baby in her own body and then proceeding to bring them into the world, he could stand there and held console her.

Easy.

Keefe helped Sophie out for the next hour as much as he possibly could, being there for support and a hand to hold when she needed, but also checking to make sure that she wasn't putting too much strain on her body or anything like that. At one point Keefe nearly had a heart attack when her bracelet flashed a tiny warning at them, indicating that she needed to push harder - and fast - because she had slowed and it was putting a strain on their baby's heart.

Once they got past that obstacle, it was a fairly smooth ride. Though, Sophie still hadn't even gotten past the head.

"How much longer do you think?" Sophie asked, eyebrows knit together and eyes temporarily fluttering closed. Keefe hummed in thought. "You're almost there," he promised, reaching up and brushing his hand across her knees in an attempt to console her. "I can see the head. As long as you get past the shoulders, then you're done. Just a few more. . . _Big_. . . pushes."

Sophie groaned, going back to focusing on pushing. Keefe winced, feeling bad for her. He could see a light sheen of sweat glistening on her skin, along with a dew dampened strands of her hair that stuck to her forehead. Even though she wasn't feeling the pain of her contractions, she was most definitely not enduring a cake walk. He was sure she was going to be sore for a couple of days.

Over the next few minutes, Sophie began mumbling things to herself as she pushed harder, Keefe rubbing her ankles and knees softly to show her he was there.

"Almost there," Keefe promised, nodding up to her. "One more."

And yet, no matter how hard she seemed to push or how consistent she seemed to keep going with it, she was never really done. Sophie shuddered suddenly, squirming on the bed as her body contracted. She couldn't do this.

Keefe caught the look of sudden doubt in her eye. He wasn't sure why she was feeling that way in that instant - maybe it was all finally getting real for her. Maybe she was worried about not being perfect, just like him. "You can do this, Sophie. You'll be okay. You just have to push."

With a deep shuddering breath, she nodded and then squeezed the bars on the side of the bed for support, letting out a ragged exhale as she pushed as hard as she could, fighting the urge to stop, fighting the urge to give up.

"You're almost there," Keefe consoled after a few seconds. "He's almost out!"

And then she heard it, the strangled cries of a baby. Sophie fell back against the bed gasping for breath, her eyes fluttering slowly, and she whimpered happily, shaking a bit as her body slowly loosened up and relaxed.

Keefe let out his own shaky exhale amongst the soft cries and whines of a baby, and Sophie peered down as Keefe fumbled with shaky hands and a cloth. Sophie could barely see past the rise and fall of her chest and she sat back, wondering why that whole process had been so much more draining than she had been told.

"Hi. . ." Keefe whispered tenderly, his lips flickering with a smile. Sophie watched as he picked up a bundle, shooting a brief smile to Sophie as he walked up beside her. She whimpered when she saw the tears brimming Keefe's lashes, and he chuckled lightly through his tears, gently handing over the baby when Sophie reached for him.

Sophie shuddered as she looked down at her baby and Keefe nuzzled up beside her, feeling his wet lashes brush against her skin as he smiled and peppered kisses onto her face. "You did great, Foster."

Sophie was crying by then, too, lip trembling uncontrollably as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Hi," she croaked down at the bundle nestled in her arms. She held her son, sobbing and crying heavily, her body shuddering from her joyful laughter.

Keefe was lost just the same, and he eventually gained some composure, laughing. "We shouldn't be crying," he mumbled, kissing her temple.

"But we are," Sophie whispered, blinking her tear-brimmed eyes as she smiled down at her baby. She couldn't get over the long eyelashes he had, dark and twitching with his eyelids. Or the tiny, soft nose. And his supple cheeks and big eyes. . .

"Keefe," she said.

"Yeah," he nodded, already knowing what she was referring to. His lips twitched with a big smile and he kissed her forehead. "I know."

 _Brown._

* * *

 **a/n:**

 **eyyyy.  
do you want one more chapter or should this be it lol?  
**

 **oh! and for fun...**

 **(AN EXCERPT FROM THE)  
ORIGINAL ENDING  
(THAT I TOOK OUT BECAUSE I'M NOT AN ASSHOLE)**

"Keefe. . . What's wrong?" Sophie asked, blood creeping up to her face. They were exact opposites in that way - whenever Sophie would get extremely anxious, her face would heat up and turn a vivid red, but whenever Keefe would get anxious, all the blood would drain from his face. That was how it was right then, as he choked on a bubbled up sob and turned her face towards him, shaking his head.

Sophie was startled at the firm way he held her chin, keeping her facing towards him. "Keefe, I-"

"Don't look," he ordered, keeping a grip on her face. "Just look at me."

"Keefe, where is he? It's quiet. Stop worrying me!" She tried to fight him with her arms and she kept twisting her head out of his grasp, but she didn't dare kick and flail her legs like she wanted to, because surely her baby was down there. Surely nothing had happened. The doctors hadn't said anything. They were just rushing around and everything was turning blurry because she was sobbing and fighting with everything she had left in her.

" _Keefe_!" she shouted.


	24. Chapter 24

SOPHIE AND KEEFE WERE SO LOST IN SAYING hello that they barely registered the hospital door opening. Sophie didn't even want to look up at first, still all too fascinated everytime their baby would smile and exclaim the most adorable, "Hi!"

She'd thought it would be weird, given the fact that she had grown up being taught that children had to slowly learn language, but. . .

It was incredible.

And it was seriously making her cry too much.

The doctor came in, catching their attention with a soft smile and explaining it was procedure to do another quick check to ensure nothing had been damaged during birth on Sophie's side, and that there had been no complications with the baby. They also had to sign a lot of paperwork, including the hospital bills, discharge papers, and - the most exciting of all - the birth certificate.

Keefe and Sophie both had been discussing names prior to the doctor coming back in, but even with the past conversation, it proved to be a tough decision. They debated for a few minutes, causing heat to rise to Sophie's cheeks at the way they'd made the doctor wait around for them. Eventually, though, they came to a conclusion on the name.

 _Julian Leto Sencen._

They'd scrawled down their signatures, softly smiling and blushing at one another. And then in a flurry, the doctor was gathering papers and leaving, asking if it was alright to allow the visitors to come in.

Keefe rose his eyebrows, looking at Sophie. His eyes flickered down to Julian in her arms, and a smile flitted onto her lips. "I'm ready if you're ready."

Keefe blew out a sigh, half of him getting excited for the extra company but also wishing it could stay private forever. He leaned over, reaching out his hand tentatively, letting Julian grasp his tiny fist in a coiled grip around his finger. Sophie and Keefe both shared a smile before he nodded. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea."

As soon as the doctor left the room, Keefe gently tugged his finger out of Julian's hand to reach up and brush the hair off of Sophie's forehead, planting a kiss in its wake. "I can already tell you need a nap."

Sophie laughed. "I think I'm up for that, yeah. But I'm not sure it'd be a good move to put him down for a nap right away. If I learned anything from when Amy was a baby, it's that you don't give them naps during the day unless they actually need it - or you need it. Otherwise the little buggers sleep all day and keep you up all night."

Julian made a sound close to a huff, indicating he was catching in that they were referring to him. Sophie and Keefe laughed lightly again.

Sophie's head popped up when the door made a soft click as it pushed open, revealing ten grinning faces. Waves of cooeing and awwing and hushed greetings followed as everyone filed and squished into the room.

Sophie had thought that the line of people had ended from what she could see, but once it got past where her line of wight had first ended, there were more people waiting around the corner.

Her parents, Alden and Della, Fitz and Biana, Juline and Kesler, the triplets and Dex, Tam and Linh, and even Wylie and Marella.

Edaline and Grady came up beside her first, and even though everyone tried to take their turns and keep their voices as low as possible as if to not disturb the baby, the room still had a modest hum as a result of all the chatter.

Edaline bent over a gaze Sophie a kiss on the forward, squeezing hers shoulder before allowing her eyes to drift down to Julian in her arms. She couldn't contain her smile and her eyes even started welling up with tears.

Sophie had to profusely blink her own to keep them from spilling over onto her cheeks in front of everyone. She had been totally comfortable with sobbing in front of Keefe a few minutes earlier — probably because she was sore and tired and he had been crying with her — but now she wasn't feeling too excited about the idea of breaking down in front of so many people.

After they went around the room talking to everyone individually and answering questions and sharing silly grins, Alden spoke up. "The Collective, Mr. Forkle, and Oralie, Bronte, and Terik are asking if they can come later visit on. They didn't want to crowd you too much right away, so for the time being they send their congratulations."

Sophie blushed as Marella made some teasing comment about having Councillors request to visit her newborn.

"I'll get back to them when I can," Sophie nodded. "Thank you."

Marella started asking how it all went and that was when Sophie's brain pretty much shut down from embarrassment, clinging to her pride as Keefe filled in all the details for everyone. It wasn't the birth itself that was making her squirmy — it was a natural process that she'd gone through herself. But what was making her squirrelly was the way Keefe managed to put so much emotion in it made her cheeks blush.

"May I hold him?" Edaline asked, drawing Sophie's attention.

"Oh, yeah. Of course," Sophie replied, sitting up straighter as she handed Julian over to her adoptive mom. "You should've told me I was hogging him," Sophie teased, brushing down her hospital gown and pulling the sheets further up on her when Edaline had scooped and fully adjusted Julian in her arms. "I didn't even realize."

A few people laughed softly and someone had clearly been about to speak before Julian mumbled something before telling a very enthusiastic, "Hi!"

There was some collective cooeing and awwing and even some replied, Hello!'s. Julian blinked his large eyes, smiling and squeaking excitedly in Edaline's arms — especially when Grady came into view over her shoulder.

"That's Grandma and Grandpa," Sophie explained, smiling brightly as she reached over and brushed her finger over Julian's fist.

"Mom!"

"Yep, I'm Mom. And that's Dad," she said, reaching over to the opposite side of the bed and poking Keefe in the shoulder. He was leaning against the side of the hospital bed, staring in admiration at Julian and sending an equally proud twitch of his lips down at Sophie.

Linh started walking over near Grady and Edaline to get a better look. Julian cooed at her and without another word, Edaline got that Linh wanted to hold him, so she graciously handed him over.

Linh blushed, clearly feeling a bit bad for taking him so soon as she rushed to apologize, but Edaline assured her it was just fine.

Tam and Wylie were already beside her, and a few of her other friends moved over, not wanting to crowd but definitely wanting to see him.

"Oh, Sophie," Linh cooed. "He has such pretty eyes. He got your eyes!"

Sophie flushed a deep crimson colour and Keefe grinned, rubbing Sophie's shoulder.

Her friends started introducing themselves, a surge of happiness shooting through them whenever Julian would repeat their names with the biggest smile.

"What's his name?" Della asked when there was a break in the talking.

All eyes turned to the couple after the question, excitedly awaiting the reveal.

"Julian," Keefe answered.

"Hello!" Julian suddenly exclaimed, as if answering to his name, eliciting another round of bubbly laughter.

Sophie turned to face Keefe while she was beaming as she felt him grab her hand. He squeezed it and she returned the gesture, loving the sweet smile on his lips.

"I love you," Keefe said.

Sophie smiled, the familiar blush rising to her cheeks. "I love you, too," she promised.

\--

 **a/n: hello lovelies! thank you so much for taking a chance on this journey with me, and i hope you enjoyed this story!**

 **sophie n keefe love u and give their thanks ️**

 **(there may be a tiny surprise later on so don't give up on this just yet)**


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